The Canthan Chronicles
by Ragnarok45
Summary: The story of a young elementalist and her friend as they begin their journey through a Cantha beset by Afflicted, demons, and the Betrayer himself. Factions storyline written out in story format. Rated T for language.
1. The Beginning

**Title: **The Cantha Chronicles

**Author:** Timeoffire45

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Guild Wars is not mine. Credit to marintha for inspiring me to write this with her story Through the Eyes of Heroes: Prophecies. I only think the idea of a "Mage-Born" is mine... pretty sure that's original

**Summary:** The story of a young elementalist and her friend as they begin their journey through a Cantha beset by Afflicted, demons, and the Betrayer himself. Factions storyline written out in story format with a plot twist I came up with myself

**A/N:** To anyone who bothers to look, I'm SORRY that I haven't been updating Hope Today... it's on standby for now until my brain gets kicked back in gear -kicks it- -nothing happens- -sighs-... this is something written to stop my muse from screaming at me and beating me around the head with a stick.

**A/N2:** Okay, after letting a friend beta this for me and having her find gajillions of mistakes, I have decided to repost this chapter. ENJOY!

Chapter One: The Beginning

(A/N: what better place to start?)

Sylvia Aracantus stood completely still. She listened with rapt attention as she and 27 other students were introduced to the headmaster of Shing Jea Monastery: Master Togo. He greeted them all with a small welcoming speech, using the soft, clipped voice that one comes to expect from the highly educated.

"Greetings, students. Welcome to Shing Jea Monastery, Cantha's premiere training academy for young heroes. You have been invited here because you show great promise. While here, each and every one of you will be required to choose a profession to major in and another, different profession to minor in. While this may seem harsh and as if we are limiting you, let me assure you that you will have your hands full as it is with just two. Trying to master all eight is something that will take you most of, if not all of, your life."

The students shifted from one foot to another impatiently. They had already been told they needed a primary profession, and most had even picked one out already. At this point they were waiting for Master Togo to say something that they _didn't_ know.

"I think I'm going to specialize as an assassin," whispered Adam, Sylvia's twin brother, out of the corner of his mouth, "I mean, what's better than getting to stalk in the shadows, using stealth, and striking to kill, not to wound, when the opportunity is perfect?"

Adam and Sylvia were both 18, both had dark-brown hair, both had the same light brown eyes, both had the same pointed, feline features with thin lips, and were within an inch of the other's height. Anyone who met them knew instantly they were twins, and some even mistakenly thought they might be identical twins. However, despite the similarities in appearance, the two could not possibly be any different.

For starters, Adam was always the friendly, outgoing type who could walk up to anyone and start a conversation in under a minute, and in five minutes or less would be able to get that person, now friend, to name him as one of their "best friends." He always rejoiced in physical activity, especially mock sword fights, which he always won. He boasted he could fight off four people at once while using two swords, one in each hand. He was not lying.

Sylvia, on the other hand, was almost the exact opposite. She was always the quite girl who sat underneath a tree or in her room reading a good book instead of playing with others while she was younger. While Adam's friends (although not Adam himself) teased her about this, she merely shrugged it off, calling them the "future unsuccessful morons". As she grew, so did her interest in books and magic. She had long ago decided her ambition was to become the most powerful elementalist in all of Cantha, Tyria, and beyond, and she would do whatever it took, short of sacrificing herself, her family, or anyone innocent for that matter, to reach her goal.

Sylvia made a quick throat-slashing gesture at Adam, which he knew meant one of two things: "Shut up now!" or "I'm going to kill you, you twit." Either way, he knew he could expect a good ear-lashing from her later. Both of them returned their attention to what Master Togo was saying.

"...and finally, this is Headmaster Quin, who will be your instructor on how to be a ritualist should you so choose to become over the course of the next few years. Now then, off to your studies." he finished, dismissing them.

As one the students, already standing, moved towards the large, red gates at the bottom of the hill. Up until now, they had all been standing on the top of a rather large hill with its sides gently curving down from behind them, while in front of them, at the top of the hill, was an ornately carved bridge made of granite with two dragons on both sides to ceremonially guard the temple from threats. Having them there made Sylvia feel that much safer; Adam just thought they were weird.

Walking down, everyone began to chat animatedly with each other. They were finally here! Shing Jea Monastery! It was a dream come true! Only the best, bravest, and/or smartest got into the Monastery to learn under the legendary Master Togo and his Headmaster Elite.

XxXxXxXxX

Coming to Shing Jea Monastery had not been the first choice of schooling Sylvia would have taken. In all honesty, she would have rather gone to the Ascalon Academy back home. The only trouble was, the Aracantus family had had a tradition of sending the third child to Cantha and Shing Jea. This plan was slightly upset when twins were born. The obvious solution: send them both to Shing Jea. The not-so-obvious solution: send whichever was born a few minutes ahead of the other to Cantha and the other to the Academy. The one Mom and Dad ended up picking: the obvious solution.

So here she was now, waiting in line to speak with Headmaster Vhang. As she had been distracted by Adam, she did not get to see what the man looked like, but someone had been kind enough to point out the line of students waiting for him. When, finally, the last person in front of her moved away, she got her first look at her new teacher. What she saw surprised her, to say the least.

He was young. Almost as young as she was. In fact, if she had to guess, she would say he was maybe 22. He was only about two inches taller than her, had flaming red hair (appropriate, really), and deep obsidian eyes. He wore the traditional garb of an elementalist graduate dyed red. With one look at him, her resolve firmed and she knew, she just _knew_, 'This is what I want to be...'

"Hello there," he greeted her cheerfully, "would you, perchance, happen to wish to become an elementalist? Judging from the look of you and your aura, I'm not sure you can handle it."

Sylvia was taken aback by this man's harsh words. Never before had she been judged so. 'Not sure I can handle it? How dare he?' Aloud she replied, "I think I do have what it takes... sir" she added as an afterthought. The infuriating man chuckled.

"Ah, so you have a spark of temper to you. Good, good, you'll need it to truly harness your powers. Now then, if you truly wish to learn under me, first go out and find my 'underling,' Ronsu. He'll be your instructor for a while. He'll be able to test whether or not you have any true aptitude."

Huffing in annoyance at both this man's condescending demeanor and being basically blown off, Sylvia looked over to her left. She saw Adam chatting animatedly with Headmaster Lee, the assassin instructor.

"Well, at least one of us is happy," she muttered under her breath, hoping Vhang would not hear her. It seemed he did not.

"Now then, Ronsu is usually out gallivanting somewhere in Sunqua Vale. Go see if you can find him. If he deems you suitable, you will then be able to train under me. Now then, please move along, as you are not the only one in your class interested in becoming an elementalist," he finished smugly, indicating another girl behind her, no more than 16 years old judging from her height (a mere 5' 4" compared to Sylvia's 5' 10").

She had flaming red hair, and her eyes were so blue they seemed almost black, yet they contained a far-off haunted expression. Her face was soft, yet she wore a hard expression: one that screamed, "touch me and die". She wore the garb of a water mage, tastefully decorated to look as though it had ice crystals on it, as opposed to the hideous uniforms they had been given already. Vhang seemed to be taking a particular interest in her, whereas the girl seemed completely emotionless, completely unfazed by the special treatment she seemed to be getting already.

"And what might your name be?" He asked her kindly, not using any of the condescending tone he had used on Sylvia.

"Janet, sir."

"And am I correct in assuming that you wish to become an elementalist, Janet? By the way, what is your last name?"

"I do, sir, and I don't have a last name."

"Oh, come now, everyone has a last name."

"Well I don't. Now then, what do you want me to do, sir?"

Vhang caught sight of Sylvia standing not five paces away.

"Why not accompany this other aspiring elementalist to go and find Ronsu? He'll begin both of your training."

"Very well, sir." the girl, supposedly named Janet, replied, seeming for all intents and purposes to be the perfect, obedient student. She turned on her heel towards Sylvia and marched up to her, grabbed her by the upper arm in a vise-like grip, and hauled her away with surprising strength.

Once they had escaped the courtyard and walked down the steps into the central courtyard, Janet continued to walk towards the far stone wall and the archway carved out of its surface. When they had walked the nearly 600 feet to the other side and now had a 10 foot thick stone wall between themselves and the Headmaster did Janet relax her rigid posture, releasing Sylvia's arm and letting out a huge sigh.

"GOD I hate that man," she exclaimed, "why wouldn't he just let me go? Oh, right, my name is Janet, and no I don't have a last name, what's your's? I figure we might as well get to know each other considering we're going to be study-buddies for the coming years."

Taken aback by this sudden shift in personality, Sylvia could merely stutter out, "I-I'm Sylvia... Sylvia Aracantus."

Janet inclined her head in an understanding gesture but said nothing and continued walking.

As they moved towards the gigantic, red gates that marked the exit of the Monastery, the girls had started up a conversation concerning their far away home: Tyria. Both knew the other was hiding something, but neither wanted to pry for fear of shattering what little bonding the two had accomplished. Eventually they both fell silent.

"So," Janet finally said after they had reached the gates, breaking the silence between them and holding out her hand, "friends? I mean, I understand if it seems a bit sudden and everything, so it's okay if you say no. In fact, who am I kidding? You probably hate me now. Gods, I'm just making this worse and-"

She was cut short when Sylvia put a hand over her mouth and gripped her extended hand in one of her own.

"Friends," Sylvia said with a smile coming to her face.

XxXxXxXxX

"So," Sylvia started to ask, wanting to get to know this person beside her better, "what magic can you do so far?"

Janet gave her a haunted look, before looking down at her toes as if they were the most interesting things in the world. Sylvia had the feeling she had hit a nerve.

"I mean, if you don't want to answer, that's okay," she tried to get out quickly so as to make Janet feel better.

"No, I suppose you're going to find out anyway, so I might as well tell you now. I was going to tell you when we found Ronsu because I would have had to tell him too, but I guess now is as good a time as any."

Sylvia gazed at her, a blank expression on her face that clearly said, "Huh?" Janet chuckled lightly.

"You see, I'm what's called a 'mage-born.' That is to say, I was fated to become an elementalist of some sort since my birth. Basically, I've had the ability to control the elements from day one. It wasn't a choice I made, it just happened. I came into my inheritance, if you will, the day of the Searing. You're an Aracantus, so I know you're Ascalonian as well, despite the fact that you look almost Canthan.

"Well, on the day of the Searing, I was in Ascalon City. My family and I lived there in a small house that barely fit all five of us; me, my mother, my father, and my two brothers who were three and six at the time. I was inside the house when the first fireballs came down from the sky and began to rip the city apart. One of the fireballs hit directly on my house. Then next thing I know, I'm encased in rock that's been blackened by the blast. My own magic acted on instinct and formed a stone defense for me. When I looked up from where I was, and saw these Charr ripping through people I had known, and I got, I don't know, the only way I can describe it is 'enraged', but it was more than that; I was anguished, furious, and just downright pissed all at once.

"I saw a stick laying on the ground beside me, I picked it up, and just charged at the Charr nearest me. It was stupid and I probably would have gotten myself killed if I hadn't, quite by accident, channeled my power through the stick, making a staff out of it. I burned every last Charr in the city into a heap of carbonized bone within minutes, and I made sure they suffered."

A strange expression had come to her tear-stained face, one resembling sadistic pleasure combined with smoldering hatred. Sylvia shuddered inwardly.

"That's why I don't have a last name. Saying my old one reminds me of everything that happened on that day, everything I felt, just... everything. I take as many steps as I can to hide that part of myself, so I don't use a last name... It just makes things easier."

Sylvia's heart clenched, realising that it was she who had brought back these horrors from Janet's past. Trying to change the subject, she quickly said, "So, like I said, what magic _can_ you do?"

"Oh," Janet said, sniffling slightly and wiping the tear tracks off of her face, "well, no offense, but I've had loads more practice than you so I expect you can't do quite as much as I can, but I can do some basic fire magic, but I mainly specialize in earth and wind magics. I can teach you some fire, though."

Sylvia raised an eyebrow in her direction. Janet merely laughed.

"It's easy, here I'll show you." She moved over to where Sylvia was standing, firmly clasping the taller girl's hand in her own, lifting it to shoulder height (for Janet) and splaying her fingers, palm out.

"Now, what you do," Janet explained, "is feel the flow of power around you. Feel it flow around you and through you. This power is the basis of all magic, and is what anyone uses to weave a spell. The ability to use more powerful and complicated spells is simply using greater force of will in order to harness more power or to more finely control this power. Since you're trying to o an elemental spell, concentrate on the elemental forces around you. There should be some raw power there. Can you feel it?"

Sylvia was in awe. She had closed her eyes as soon as Janet had told her to start concentrating. After doing so, she began to see small ripples of various colors behind her eyelids; most, however, were pure white. Opening her eyes, she found she could still see the ripples and that they were moving in waves all around her.

"I see it... I feel it..." She breathed, slightly in awe. She had never experienced this before. Sure, she had cast a few simplistic spells in her time, but never before had she gotten this deep into the power surrounding her.

"Good, now take some of that raw power and focus on fire. Imagine a fireball forming in your hand, then imagine it flying away from you and striking a target." She indicated a nearby rock.

As Sylvia strained with effort, she did indeed manage to produce a small, flickering flame in her palm. She could feel herself shaking with the effort of just maintaining its existence. Pouring her last vestiges of strength into the spell, she forced it to fly out at the rock and strike dead center. She collapsed into a heap at Janet's feet, gasping.

"There there," Janet consoled, a slightly concerned look on her face, "It's always hardest the first time. Now it gets easy. In fact, all of that will eventually become subconscious..."

Sylvia could barely hear her; she was still trying to find the strength to stand up. She didn't know where it came from, but it came nonetheless and she stood. After approximately ten more tried, Janet was satisfied and the size of the fireball Sylvia could control had increased to something the size of her forearm. Janet lovingly called the spell a "flare".

"So then," Janet began with a broad smile on her face, feeling proud at having taught her friend something, "shall we go find this Ronsu? Maybe we should ask this guy over here," she finished, indicating to a man sitting idly on the edge of the hill that the monastery was perched on with a flock of animals around him.

The man was more than pleased to help them, introducing himself as Sahnlae the Tamer. He pointed out a shrine on the far side of the valley the hill overlooked, telling them they could find Ronsu there. From where they were standing, it seemed no bigger than a small cat. The girls thanked him and began their trek down the hill, a journey of about a mile and a half.

The hill was covered with rather sparse vegetation, mostly a tree here and there with grass covering the remainder. That didn't prevent a group of mantids from sneaking up on the two girls though. Without warning, one of the brown-colored, shoulder-high creatures took a flying leap at Sylvia, its deadly pincers flashing in the sunlight. Janet, without batting an eyelash, made a dagger of stone rise up from the earth, float next to her for a split second, and then fly straight into the skull of the ugly, insectoid creature with a wave of her hand in the direction of the offending thing.

Another three mantids popped out of the ground around them, with another five jumping out of trees. Eight insects all baying for their blood. Pincers flashed as the creatures babbled amongst themselves in a strange, screeching language. Sylvia didn't give them a chance to continue their conversation as she used the spell Janet had taught her not an hour previously. A small ball of fire formed in the palm of her hand, and she willed it to fly out at the mantid in front of her. It did so, colliding with the creature's exoskeleton and setting it on fire. It ran around in circles, still aflame, screeching loudly.

"Shut up before my ears start to bleed!" Sylvia roared, letting her temper fuel her magic and sending another flare at the still screeching creature. This time, it was completely consumed and rolled over onto its back, finally dead. The other mantids took on look at their fallen comrade and started screeching as well and launched, as one, at the pair.

"Hold them off for a second," Janet yelled above the din, "and I'll see if I can't keep us alive."

With that she started floating in midair, seemingly deep in concentration. Sylvia didn't have time to wonder what she was doing before the first mantids were upon her. They tried to dismember her with their pincers and claws, but she kept up a stream of pyrotechnics that wounded most of the mantids and killed a few. Behind her, Janet had finished at last and a ring of light appeared around the pair. Sylvia could feel her skin tingling with the raw power behind the spell.

Her momentary fascination with this new form of defense caused her to drop her guard for perhaps two seconds, but in that time a mantid had leapt from behind her and landed on her back, trying to rip her into tiny, bite-sized pieces. However, it couldn't seem to get its pincers into its prey; they seemed to be be deflected by some unseen force. Sylvia was startled our of her momentary reverie (a hundred-pound bug jumping on you will tend to do that) and fired off a series of flares at the hideous thing in such rapid succession that they seemed more like a stream of fire in an attempt to get it off of her. By the time she was done, she had punched a hole clear through its exoskeleton and body. Charred bug meat dripped out, sizzling in the grass. The acrid smell of fried cockroach was filling the air.

With the ward, which Janet yelled at Sylvia it was so named, they were able to quickly mop up the remaining three mantids. When they were done, pure and utter rage began to consume Sylvia.

"What the hell was that? This. Is. A. SCHOOL! How do they expect us to deal with something like that on our first day? We could have been killed! Do you hear me? KILLED!"

Her rant continued for about five minutes, and during the last minute a nearby tree burst spontaneously into flame and the ground around them had started to tremble. Janet, recognizing the danger signs, acted on impulse and breathed a quick spell. Sylvia, without warning, found her body from the waist down encased in ice. Needless to say, she shut up.

"Sorry Sylvia, but I needed to cool you off before you set the whole island on fire," Janet said with a apologetic look on her face, at the same time trying to prevent herself from laughing at the look of utter shock on Sylvia's face.

"However," she continued, "if you promise to be a good girl and keep your temper even when we find Ronsu, I'll let you out."

The ice started hissing, and with a loud BANG the whole thing exploded outward, sending steaming ice chunks flying everywhere.

"I'll keep it in check, I promise," Sylvia replied with a slightly miffed look, trying to massage some feeling back into her legs, "just _never_ do that again. My legs are completely numb now," all this causing Janet to finally let out her pent up laughter. It was a good laugh, and sounded like a chorus of angels laughing all at once, or at least that was Sylvia's impression. Not even her mother had such a beautiful laugh. Well, used to have, but that was another story.

"Now then, let's go find this Ronsu before we get eaten or something," Janet said cheekily, and began running down the hill. Sylvia wondered idly how she could go that fast before Janet turned around, and with a quick "Sorry, forgot..." had whispered a quick spell. Sylvia could feel the currents of air around her swirling and lifting her slightly off the ground, making her seem to weigh less and pushing her forward. Laughing in sheer joy and giddiness at the new feelings of near-weightlessness, she raced down the hill, determined to beat her newfound friend to the bottom while said friend set off in hot pursuit with a broad grin on her face.

----------

A/N: And there you have it: Chapter One. I have no intention of writing about any "pairings" in this story; this is merely written to satisfy the little voice in my head screaming "WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!" at me... Also, I realise that Adam kind-of-sort-of disappeared from the story, but fear not! He shall return (later... significantly later). Now then, unless you want the two young girls to be lost forever in Sunqua Vale, trying to find Ronsu for the rest of their lives until they waste away, click the little purple button in the bottom-left of your screen . Flames will be read but ignored


	2. The Long Night

**Title: **The Canthan Chronicles

**Author:** Timeoffire45

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** See Profile. Credit to marintha for inspiring me to write this with her story Through the Eyes of Heroes: Prophecies. I think only the idea of a "Mage-Born" is mine... I'm pretty sure that's original...

**Summary:** The story of a young elementalist and her friend as they begin their journey through a Cantha beset by Afflicted, demons, and the Betrayer himself. Factions storyline written out in story format.

**A/N:** Chapter Two! Woot! I'm actually amazed that I got this done that fast... Ah well, Enjoy!

Oh, btw, for this chapter I tried to stick to Sylvia's POV and keep it in limited-third-person as opposed to omniscient... I think I failed in spots...

On another note: OMG I GOT REVIEWS! TYTYTYTY to marintha and iceryu66 I LOVE YOU GUYS! -gives cookies-

**Chapter Two**

The Long Night

The two girls were now thoroughly tired out. They had been running non-stop, in a perpetual race, for the better part of the afternoon and now evening. The sky was alight with the colors of the rainbow, and the clouds appeared to be on fire. Such was the sight that greeted Sylvia's eyes when she finally looked up after noticing how dark it had suddenly become.

"Gods, look at that! It's beautiful!" she cried out to no one in particular, her face shining with wonder.

"Isn't it, though?" Janet asked of her friend, not really expecting an answer; nor was one forthcoming.

The two friends were perfectly happy to stare up into the sky, watching the last few colors drain out of the sky and the last few rays of light disappear. They sat there, watching it as if it were the greatest television show they had ever seen (not that either of them knew what a television show was), completely wrapped up in the moment. With a start, both looked at the other in the pseudo-sunlight of twilight with identical expressions of concern on their face and had the same thought on their lips when they spoke.

"We should make a fire," both stated simultaneously, causing them both to grin like maniacs before Janet took charge.

"Okay then, I'll go find some wood for a fire and you work on making some sort of shelter for the night. Easy enough?"

"Oh, come on... why do I have to do the hard work while you just go wandering into the forest?" Sylvia retorted with a hurt-puppy expression on her face.

"Because," Janet replied nonchalantly, "if there _is_ something out there, I'll be better able to handle it. No offense."

Bowing before this obvious show of superior logic, Sylvia agreed with a smirk on her lips. "As you command, your highness."

In response, Janet merely stuck her nose up into the air and tried to put on her best "I'm better than you" pose, yet the twitching at the corners of her mouth gave away her intent. Both stood or sat there, Sylvia with her mouth open in mock horror, Janet stock-still in her pose, until finally neither of them could stand it anymore. The delicate sounds of laughter punctuated the night air.

As she took off into the woods, Janet called out over her shoulder, "By the way, Sylvia! If I let you get the firewood, then I know for a fact that by the time you returned with it it would be fire-ash instead."

Sylvia just stared at her with a confused expression on her face. Janet turned back to the path ahead of her with a smirk on her face. 'She really is clueless, isn't she?' she thought silently to herself.

XxXxXxXxX

Sylvia was just beginning to put the shelter together when it happened.

She had known that she needed to hurry given that even twilight was fading, and if she wanted to make something even slightly suitable she needed to be able to see her work. She had struggled for a moment, wondering what in the name of the five gods Janet had expected her to do to make a shelter, when it occurred to her. A simple, basic element could be moulded into various shapes, an easy one of which was a rough shelter. Earth.

Her early attempts to make the stubborn dirt stay upright had failed spectacularly, leaving her with more than a few smudges on her formerly pristine uniform. Punching the ground and yelling at it incoherently, she wondered why the gods had to be so cruel and what she had ever done to incur their wrath. A loud, scrapping noise came from behind her. Whirling around in alarm, fireballs in each hand in case self defense became necessary, she was mildly surprised to see that her supposed assailant had been two gigantic boulders rising out of the earth, magic practically dripping from them in sizzling bolts. A crackling noise filled the air.

That was it! Rocks! Screw the dirt, ROCKS! Why try to make something solid when you've already been given something solid in the first place. Thinking up a quick spell in her head, she dearly hoped this would work. It took some imagination on her part, as most elementalists were more concerned with hitting people with rocks then shaping them, but by the time she had cast the spell and was watching it unfold, the two giant boulders had seemingly begun to melt and were reshaping themselves into two moderately-sized caves.

It was then that a scream echoed through the night.

"Janet!" she breathed, swearing under her breath. Pouring the last vestiges of power needed to complete the spell and praying to any of the gods who might be listening, she set off to find her erstwhile friend. She didn't have to search long.

Directly ahead of her she heard a rustling noise, as well as what seemed to be... slashing noises? It sounded like some giant cat was dragging its claws along a rock, trying to rip its own claws off from pressing so hard and digging in so deeply. The underbrush directly in front of her moved, and a scared-looking Janet ran past her, aided by some wind spell. Sylvia looked at her confusedly for perhaps half a second before she was caught up in the slipstream of Janet's spell and her legs had decided to kick in. If Janet was afraid, she sure as hell had better be afraid too.

From behind her, the slashing noises grew louder until a... something... sliced off half the bark from a tree she had just been standing by, taking giant chunks of wood with it. Splinters filled the air, flying in every direction. A screeching filled the air; it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and a shiver run up, then down her spine, then back up and down again. She _knew_ that sound. Terror flooded her system like liquid fire. She started breathing faster, trying to force more and more oxygen into her lungs. Must run faster... Must run faster... Must... Run... FASTER!

Suddenly, and without warning, her world went dark for perhaps half a second. Shit, she had hyperventilated. Her legs buckled out from beneath her and she fell to the ground in a graceless heap.

"JANET! RUN! IT'S AN ONI!" She screamed, fear adding an odd cadence to her voice.

The creature stopped before her, stepping out into the moonlight that now filled the valley around her. It stood perhaps eight feet tall, had mottled black-grey skin, and had the proportions of your average human male. However, most human males didn't have have gigantic teeth that could tear through human flesh in less than three seconds flat, nor did they have claws tipping each finger that could do the same in half, sometimes even a third, that time. The Oni's head was placed slightly above what would be the center of the chest for a human, and had no nose, no ears, only two diamond-shaped eyes that glowed red in the night and a mouth with countless fangs. It reeked of rotting flesh.

Sylvia had never faced an Oni herself before. She had, however, seen what one could do when it appeared in the center of unarmed civilians. She had been seven at the time. She could still hear the screams of the innocents, still smell the blood that was flying off the monster's claws in miniature rivers as it slashed at anyone who came nearby, still feel the trample of the metal boots of soldiers on the ground, grim expressions of determination on their faces, only to have those expressions morph into those of abject terror and pain as the Oni began to tear through their chain mail as if it were made of nothing more than tissue paper.

Now here she was, face to face with that same nightmare. She couldn't move, couldn't think, she could no longer even draw breath to scream. All she could do was stare into the glowing, red eyes of impending death. Letting out an earsplitting screech, the demon swung its hand into the air, moonlight glittering on its razor-sharp talons, and swung downward, the air making a whistling noise as the razors cut through it.

The claws were barely a foot from Sylvia's face and she had thought 'So this is it then? This is where my life ends? Well then, so be it...' when a jagged bolt of lightning cut across the night sky, hitting the foul thing square in the chest, sending it reeling. Snapping her head up to look behind her, Sylvia saw Janet standing behind her, an unreadable expression on her face.

"No one messes with MY friends!" she cried before conjuring another bolt of lightning, this time hitting the stunned creature in the head.

"Stay! Away! From! Us!" she was now yelling at the demon, each syllable punctuated by another lightning bolt in the chest, "Now FUCK OFF!"

At this last proclamation, she raised her hands to the sky, her small body beginning to float a few feet off the ground. Crying out, she flung her hands in the direction of the now thoroughly battered creature and, screaming in pent-up rage, sent no less than ten bolts of lightning, each one chaining off those around it, straight at the Oni. The resulting explosion caused what seemed, in Sylvia's dazed opinion, to be a rain of some black, warm fluid. Oni blood, she realised with a start, although her body was still too far into shock to move at all. All around her the viscous, acidic liquid was falling in large droplets, as well as the occasional plop of a fist-sized chunk of flesh hitting the ground.

The last thing she remembered before blacking out was the sound of Janet calling her name and the image of her face looking deathly afraid. Maybe the Oni had gotten her after all and this was all a dream. She hoped, if that was the case, that Janet had gotten away unhurt. Sylvia gave up the fight to remain conscious and felt her eyelids flutter closed, the blackness that had been tickling the edges of her vision engulfing her.

XxXxXxXxX

She awoke to find herself inside what seemed to be a large cave; the rock walls were smooth, almost artificially so. It was warm, and the stone seemed to be radiating with some unknown heat. Janet was sitting by the mouth of the cave, her lithe form outlined by the fire crackling merrily just outside the entrance. She turned her head when she heard the rustling noises Sylvia was making behind her.

"You're awake," she stated simply.

"Ye-yeh-yeh-yeah," Janet replied, trying -and failing- to stifle a yawn, "how long have you been sitting there?"

"Oh, about four hours at most, I'd guess," Janet replied lazily. "I decided to stand watch until you woke up. Don't even think about it," she said quickly, noticing Sylvia about to protest at what her new friend had gone through for her sake, "if I had left you there you would have died. Besides, after what you went through, you deserve a _long_ rest. It's not every day that you nearly get disemboweled by a rampaging demon in the middle of the night on your first day at school."

Sylvia found herself fighting to keep from laughing, yet could see how these words were bringing Janet no joy at all. She still had the same, impassive expression on her face; the same one she had worn for Headmaster Vhang just the other day. It unnerved Sylvia, to put it mildly. Why would her friend be acting like this around her? Did she suddenly not trust her or some such thing just as absurd?

She tried to put all this into words in her mind, but ended up simply asking, "J-Janet... Are you alright? I mean, did the Oni get you or something? You're acting kind of funny, almost like you did on the first day before we had met... Did I do something wrong?"

The red-headed girl did not respond, but instead looked at Sylvia with the most open and painful expression she had ever sen in her life. Without warning, Janet had jumped up, buried her face in Sylvia's shoulder, and burst into tears. Through the shaking of her shoulders, sobs, and occasional hiccups, Sylvia could get a rough idea of what her friend was saying.

"When I saw -hic- s-s-saw it standing ove -hic- over you l-l-like that, -hic- I was sure – hic- th -hic- th-th-th-that you were going t-to die! -hic hic- It just reminded me so much of -hic- of that day I watched everyone I knew, everyone I had grown up with die!" her hiccups seemed to be under control by now, but her voice was still unsteady and Sylvia could feel tears still landing on her shoulder; the fabric of her uniform was quickly becoming soaked in the salty fluid.

"I couldn't s-s-stand the thought of loosing someone else AGAIN! Anyone I've ever gotten close to has ended up dead, and it's my fault! They always died because I never tried hard enough, because I was too stupid to do the right thing! I just... I never want to loose you Sylvia..." This whole time Sylvia had been stroking Janet's head, her shoulders, her back, anything to try and comfort the young girl. Now, she just held her, clutching her tightly as if to reaffirm the fact that she wasn't leaving any time soon.

"Don't worry Janet," she cooed softly to her friend's now sleeping form, "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Now then, I think it's time I returned the favor."

With that, she untangled Janet's arms from her shoulders where the girl seemed to have sneaked them some time during her rant, and tried to stand up. She was prevented form doing so when a soundly sleeping Janet grabbed her around her waist and pulled her back against her chest as if she were a teddy bear. Sylvia was, once again, startled by the smaller girl's strength

Ah well, she thought, perhaps I could just lay here for a while before she lets me go... yes, that's what I'll...

She was asleep before she even finished her thought.

XxXxXxXxX

(**A/N:** I was SO tempted to end the chapter here you have no idea, but alas, alack... -evil cackle-)

XxXxXxXxX

It was dawn when Sylvia was awakened by the feeling of something shifting around her. Janet paused with a start.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, I just-" she began apologizing profusely, only to be interrupted by Sylvia putting one slender finger on her lips.

"Shhhh... Don't worry about it... You saved my life, I was your stuffed bear for the night. We're square," she said quietly, the upward ticks at the corners of her mouth betraying her mirth, "or at least closer to it, considering you _did_ save my life. By the way, I don't know who 'Pooky' is, but you were talking about him all last night." This last part was not entirely true, but not entirely false; she _had_ been awakened a few times when Janet squeezed her tightly and mumbled something along the lines of "-sigh- Pooky-Wooky..."

Finally, she could no longer help it; Janet had the most delightful shocked expression on her face, a look that clearly said, "Huh?". Sylvia fell onto her back, clutching her sides in laughter.

All Janet could do was utter the word her expression already betrayed, which made Sylvia's gales of laughter increase two-fold. After what seemed to be about ten minutes, her merriment wound down and she was able to stand up without beginning to chortle and fall back onto the ground screaming, "POOKY!" at the top of her lungs while laughing like a maniac. Janet's face matched her hair.

"Oh, come on, now, I'm just having fun!" Sylvia, sobering completely, tried to reassure her friend. "It's not like I mean anything by it, it's just cute is all," this last statement causing Janet's face go from flaming red to a rich plum in embarrassment.

Sylvia chose to ignore Janet's steadily coloring face and looked around her. She saw, standing a few feet from her, one of the stone tents she had been trying to make the other day, except...

"Where's the other one?" she muttered aloud.

"What other one?" Janet asked timidly, not totally sure whether or not Sylvia was going to do some sort of "Pooky dance" or some such ridiculousness.

"The other tent I made. I know I made two... Come to think of it, that one is bigger than it should be..."

Janet laughed, her discomfort seeming to drain in an instant, "Silly, you only made one tent. That's why I was in there with you last night when you woke up. You must have not been paying attention at some point and allowed the spell to work on its own. Spells will naturally try to combine with each other, you know, especially the more complicated they are. How complicated was this one?"

Sylvia mumbled something under her breath that sounded like either "pretty complicated" or "pretty cow-plated" causing Janet to laugh a second time.

Sylvia looked slightly miffed, as she always did whenever she was proven wrong, and tried to change the subject, "Let's go find this Ronsu guy for whom we have nearly died twice already. I swear, before we're off this island we're going to be dead."

"But if we're dead," Janet pointed out, "then we're never going to... oh..." She stopped speaking upon seeing another smirk beginning to grow at the corners of Sylvia's mouth.

"... Very well," she continued, sighing dramatically, the twitching at the corners of her mouth betraying her true emotions, "let us set out to find this rascal of a person, Ronsu! When we find him, I swear I'm going to kill him..."

"Hey! That's my job!"

"Not anymore it's not, I now officially claim the job of killing our teachers!"

"Is that so? Then how're you going to do that then? You know earth and wind magics, I thought..."

"Well, if you recall, I _do_ know _some_ fire, so I can use that. Failing that, a nice stone sword through the gut, chest, or head always works. With air I can just shock them until they fry, but what fun is that?"

Both girls were fighting to keep their laughter in check at this point, but Sylvia sobered when she realised a simple truth.

"Um, Janet? I think we're lost... Do we even know how to get to Ronsu?" she asked, getting a far-off look in her eyes. "I certainly don't remember which way it is..."

"Ah, but fret not," her friend replied calmly, "I know exactly where Ronsu is."

"How?" Sylvia asked, mystified

"Because his shrine is just up there," Janet claimed simply, pointing at the ridge above the two girls with a shit-eating grin on her face.

Sure enough, up above the girls was a small temple perched on a small cliff that seemed to have been forced out of the hillside; it did not look natural, and being able to tell so was simply an inherent gift for those who had ever studied the elements. There was a large, three-piece banner flapping in the morning breeze above the temple, and two cherry trees, one with pink blossoms, another with white, stood on either side of the entrance.

At the back stood an aged, heavyset man roughly Sylvia's height. He wore the garb of a Shing Jea teacher, and was holding what appeared to be a candle stuck onto the end of a bo staff. He was also bald, had a mustache and goatee, and his eyebrows arched up in a decidedly unfriendly manner. Sylvia's first impression was that of a fierce, strict man who would demand the utmost discipline.

"Hello there!" he called out to them from where he stood. His voice was soft and kind, not the kind of voice one would expect with a face like his. "You must be the new students I've heard so much about. Please, come, sit, relax. I'm going to be training you for the better part of a year, so we may as well start off on the right foot."

This caught Sylvia and, judging from her expression, Janet completely by surprise. Since when had teachers been so nice?

"Well," Janet said, turning to Sylvia with a wicked glint in her eyes, "At least we don't have to worry about burning in Hell if we do bad things in this life."

Sylvia gave her a blank stare, asking with her eyes what in the name of the gods she meant.

"Oh come on, silly. A nice teacher? Hell hath frozen over."

**A/N:** Ok, this is horrible of me... I SHOULD be sitting down and writing an essay for English class, but instead I wrote this :) I feel very happy indeed... I have NO idea how I wrote the story for this chapter... This one surprised both you and me... I started writing it with every intention of meeting up with Ronsu in the beginning of the chapter, but as you can see things didn't work out that way... Still, overall I like the was it turned out :)

Credit to Pearls Before Swine, I got my inspiration for that ending from the issue of it from... 4 days ago? Something like that... Anywho, I thought it was uber funny, so I twisted it and included it xD


	3. Ronsu

**Title: **The Canthan Chronicles

**Author:** Timeoffire45

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** See Profile. Credit to marintha for inspiring me to write this with her story Through the Eyes of Heroes: Prophecies. I think only the idea of a "Mage-Born" is mine... I'm pretty sure that's original...

**Summary:** The story of a young elementalist and her friend as they begin their journey through a Cantha beset by Afflicted, demons, and the Betrayer himself. Factions storyline written out in story format.

**A/N:** REPOST! AAAH! I read this chapter over and found GLARING problems... For example, I called people by the wrong name a few times... plus I useded some bad grammars :-)

**Chapter Three**

Ronsu

The wind blew gently through the trees in the Vale, creating a soft rustling sound of leaves rubbing against each other. The sky was aquamarine blue with fluffy clouds dispersed here and there, looking like giant cotton balls impossibly suspended unfathomable distances in the air; the sun shone down, its insistent rays warming the valley just enough to make it comfortable, but not enough to make it unpleasant. The smell of cherry blossoms drifted over the training grounds, courtesy of the cherry trees in constant bloom at the entrance. All in all, one could not ask for a more perfect day. It was exactly the sort of day Ronsu was likely to ruin.

Sylvia had to admit to herself, over the past three months she had learned more about magic that she would have thought possible in that stretch of time. However, there was the slight problem that, although the man seemed kind enough to be with, Ronsu could be a slave driver when the time came. He demanded complete and absolute perfection, but did not invoke punishments when it was not achieved. Instead, he would simply say something along the lines of, "I am deeply disappointed in you..." and leave it at that. He was more of a father-figure, so these words cut deeply; it would have been better if he had shouted instead.

Again, however, Sylvia was forced to admit to the quantity, and quality, of what she had learned. Ronsu had taught her and Janet how to manipulate the elemental world around them in various ways but it quickly became apparent that his specialties included water and air magics. This was good for both girls, considering that Sylvia took an immediate liking to water, and Janet already had experience with air magics of various forms.

His first task had been to try and teach them relatively simple spells such as causing a deliberate lightning bolt. Janet, already having done this before, cracked her stone target in half with the force of her spell. Sylvia, on the other hand, had tried for hours before finally calling down a small bolt. However, instead of hitting the target as she was supposed to, the lightning ended up hitting about a foot from where Ronsu stood, causing the hair of all present to stand on end. The man had merely chuckled at her, muttering something about PMS-ing girls and their suppressed annoyances and angers. Sylvia shot him a death glare. She was NOT suppressing anger and annoyance!

(A/N: I have a friend who was PMS-ing about a day ago, so don't even THINK about trying to convince me that girl in her cycle isn't something to be feared xD plus, note i didn't say she _wasn't_ PMS-ing :-P)

It had taken her the better part of two weeks, but by the end of it, with enough encouragement from Janet and Ronsu and thirteen hours of sleep a day, she could use the thunder branch of air magic well enough to get by. Janet, also under Ronsu's instruction, had begun to learn an even more complex spell: one which was immensely similar the the "flare" spell she had taught Sylvia, except this time it involved drawing lightning into a cohesive sphere in her hand and firing it a target. Her early attempts had gone similarly to Sylvia's at attempting the simple bolt, but after five days she had mastered the technique sufficiently, according to their teacher. Then it was on to things more of interest to Sylvia: fire magics.

This was what Sylvia had been looking forward to as she slogged through those hours upon hours of lectures and instruction on air magics. Finally, it was her turn to try something she was truly interested in. Janet's "flare" spell had been nice, but she wanted some real firepower, no pun intended. She wanted to get a taste of those spells which she had been told about: spells which could level a hill or burn a forest to ashes.

Ronsu, however, balked when asked about such spells. He claimed, "You would do well, young one, to not let such thoughts fill your mind. We will be working on a much less grand scale, if you will." This did nothing whatsoever to assuage Sylvia's avid interest in such areas. If anything, it only increased her curiosity.

Ronsu was glad that at least Janet had manged to teach Sylvia _something_ before coming to him, or else he would have had to teach her all over again how to handle elemental magic. Fire magic, he claimed, was the most volatile and unpredictable of the lot, and the fact that Sylvia could already, to an extent, control it was astounding in and of itself. Sylvia merely shrugged her shoulders in reply to that.

They started small and worked their way up. Firstly, Ronsu refined Sylvia's "flare" spell, pointing out sloppy posture or energy waste. Next, he showed her how to control the size of the flare, allowing her to increase its size dramatically. The result was similar to Janet's original display with lightning, except instead of cracking a stone target in half, she blew it up, molten rock tracing lazy, smoking arcs in the air. By the end of the fire sessions, Sylvia had been instructed in how to conjure large fireballs and fling them at targets, as well as how to cause flames to rain down from the sky.

Her crowning achievement, however, was not something Ronsu taught her. In fact, it was her own innovation. She decided that, in case it wasn't enough to promise a show of power to intimidate her foes, she needed a truly intimidating spell. She named the spell she devised the "phoenix". It was fairly simple, she said: all one had to do was summon up a fireball in the normal fashion, but in the mind's eye, imagine it to be a gigantic bird-of-prey. The result was both beautiful and, as promised, terrifying. A giant bird composed of flames would rise up behind her, beak open in a silent screech, wings spread to an impressive 20 foot span, and her lithe form would be outlined in the very heart of this formation. Then, she would fling her arms down and the gigantic raptor out of hell would fly out at you, exploding where it struck.

All this had been in the course of three months. There had been more, but of such great quantity was it that she could hardly remember the details; she simply had memorised them to the point where they became second nature. Now, finally, Ronsu had told the two that he had a task to set before them: they were to travel to the shore, a good quarter-day's walk, and retrieve a Stone of the Elements. He did not say what it would look like, or where exactly on the shore they would find it, only that they would know when they found one and, if they desired, they could keep it later on. First, though, they had to bring it back to him.

"You're joking, right?" Sylvia asked, her incredulous undertone almost masked. "All you want us to do is to hike over to the beach and get a rock. You're sure there's no catch?"

"Quite positive," Ronsu replied. "However, there are sometimes those who try to take the stones before others find them. You may end up having to fight for one."

Upon hearing this, both girls moaned.

"Please Ronsu," Janet pleaded in her high-pitched, I-want-something-and-I'm-going-to-be-annoying-until-I-get-it voice, "why can't you give us something that's actually _challenging_ for once?"

The older man simply smirked. "You have thirty-six hours to return here with that stone. One minute more, and you may very well find yourselves kicked out of the Monastery. Now then, daylight is burning away, so why are you still standing here?"

The girls exchanged annoyed expressions, but both ran out the gateway of the temple, both utilizing the air speed-enhancing spells Ronsu had taught them. Another on the list of long things he had drilled into their subconscious.

Once out of the temple, Janet, who had been leading, slowed at looked back at Sylvia, who came to a stop at her side.

"We're FINALLY getting out of that old temple and getting some REAL action!" she whooped, her attitude from before all but forgotten. Sylvia merely nodded at her, face blank. Ronsu had said they might need to fight someone for the stone. Did that mean they might have to kill as well? She shuddered at the thought.

XxXxXxXxX

It took the girls nearly seven hours to reach the shore, and that was running almost nonstop. However, Ronsu had taught them how to draw power from their surroundings, so energy levels were of no consequence. Despite this, both girls were still panting slightly and had a fine sheen of sweat on their skin. The waves lapped onto the shore, oh-so inviting. Neither girl said anything, but they merely glanced at each other before running towards the surf, identical smiles on their faces.

Their smiles quickly evaporated, however, when they realised they were not alone. A man was standing not fifteen feet from them, clutching something wrapped in a cloth. There was a strange aura coming from that cloth, and both girls immediately knew what Ronsu had meant when he said, "You will know when you find it." The magic aura coming from it was undoubtedly elemental in nature.

"Hey, you!" Sylvia, being the bolder of the two girls, called out. "Yeah you," she continued when the man looked up, "I think you have something that's ours."

The man, who was about Ronsu's height, but of slighter build, cackled merrily, his dark brown eyes twinkling in merriment, but also shining with some deep-seated emotion that Sylvia could not quite place.

"You think I would just hand over a Stone of the Elements, and to children like yourselves?" He scoffed at them. "Run back to your master and tell him Huan has it, and if he wants it he can duel Huan for it!"

"Seeing as how our master, as you put it, isn't here," Janet piped up, "that leaves us to fight in his stead."

Huan cackled again, but this time it had a hint of madness in the undertone.

"You two puny little girls think you can _possibly_ challenge me? Ridiculous! Do you even know who I am?"

"I'd say we're about to find out," Sylvia replied, conjuring flames to her hands as Janet let lightning encase hers.

Huan's smirk grew into a maniacal grin. Before either girl could react, he had pulled two gigantic boulders out of the ground, each the size of a horse, and sent them flying in the direction of the two girls.

Sylvia let her instincts take over and sent a stream of flames at the rock headed her way, focusing completely on heating the thing enough to cause it to explode. After what seemed impossibly long milliseconds, the rock had heated and its core had vaporized, causing a resounding BANG along the coast. It was then she heard the crack of the lightning and the heart-wrenching CRUNCH of bones impacting rock, before turning to see Janet's attempts at cracking her boulder using lightning fail miserably as it soared through the air, the rock impacting on her slight form and propelling her fifteen feet from where she had stood. She did not get up.

Sylvia's vision began fade as a bloodred haze began to obscure her vision. She could feel anger and bloodlust welling in her gut, threatening to tear her apart form the inside out; threatening to make her explode. This was the one thing she had been fearing: loosing control of her emotions; now that fear was only counteracting her efforts to control her anger. Next thing she knew, she was screaming.

"YOU EVIL, HEARTLESS, SON OF A BITCH! HOW DARE YOU? SHE'S ONLY SIXTEEN, SHE'S MY FRIEND, AND NOW YOU'VE HURT HER, POSSIBLY KILLED HER! I HATE YOU AND I'M GONNA FUCKING _KILL_ _YOU_!"

Before she could utter another word, she blacked out.

XxXxXxXxX

_Sylvia knew she must be dreaming. There was no other explanation for what she saw transpiring around her. _

_Almost as if it were an out-of-body experience, she was looking down on, well, herself standing on the beach. Except it was not her. It could not be her. There was a halo of light around her head, and her uniform was glowing, changing. By the time it was done, her frilly, flowery red uniform had transformed into, well, into something entirely different. _

_She saw herself wearing a black outfit, almost a dress, but far too revealing to be a dress. The outfit was essentially six pieces. The first was the chest piece, which covered, but just barely, her chest and upper back. Then there were the arm pieces, two of them, the piece covering her midriff, and the two boots. All of these were adorned heavily in jade and silver. A jade and silver emblem she did not recognize was on her chest and belt. An aura floated about her head, swirling ominously and crackling with unmeasurable power. Her eyes glowed crimson._

_The Huan in her dream paled considerably. "What are you?" he hoarsely asked._

_Off to the side, Janet was stirring slightly. Her blue-black eyes opened a crack, still slightly cloudy and dazed looking from having collided with a three-ton rock._

"_Goodbye, Huan," Sylvia heard herself say in a cold, hard voice devoid of compassion, yet filled with hatred._

_She watched on in growing fascination and horror as, in less than a heartbeat, she had leapt forward at an impossible speed, grabbed Huan by the throat, and hauled him into the air as if he weighed nothing, his feet waving frantically, trying to find purchase. _

"_Tell Grenth I say 'Hello,'" she intoned, watching as a brief flash of fear filled Huan's face until, before her very eyes, his body was encased in a glowing, white light for perhaps half a second until it dissipated, at which point his entire body was set aflame. It took perhaps two whole seconds. Huan never even had time to scream. His ashes floated lazily to the ground._

_Out of the corner of her eye, the dream-her saw Janet, still slightly groggy, looking on, prostrate on the ground. She had something akin to horror splashed across her visage. Dream-Sylvia turned to face her, crimson eyes aflame with power and the desire to use it._

"_Sylvia...?"_

_A flash of brilliant white light dazzled her vision, followed by Janet's scream._

XxXxXxXxX

A/N: wowzers do I feel better... small errors annoy me to no end... basically, I corrected minor errors as well as fixing some things that made NO sense and contradicted each other...

Word Count: 2463 . ouch...


	4. Return to Ronsu

**Title: **The Canthan Chronicles

**Author:** Timeoffire45

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** See Profile. Credit to marintha for inspiring me to write this with her story Through the Eyes of Heroes: Prophecies. I think only the idea of a "Mage-Born" is mine... I'm pretty sure that's original...

**Summary:** The story of a young elementalist and her friend as they begin their journey through a Cantha beset by Afflicted, demons, and the Betrayer himself. Factions storyline written out in story format.

**A/N: **Ok, so last chapter I lied... I have NO IDEA where the hell this came from...

**Chapter Four**

Return to Ronsu

XxXxXxXxX

_White light swirled around her, caressing her cheek like an old lover. The light just felt _right_ to her, as if she belonged there, had always belonged there, and she wanted for nothing more than to remain. In the white fog that surrounded her, she could almost feel all her worries slide off of her shoulders as if they were a physical load she had been carrying on her back for far too many miles. She smiled at how refreshed she felt, how alive she was, and how utterly calm everything seemed._

_Pain._

_It ripped through her, piercing her heart and mind like a spear through skin. She tried to bring her hand to her heart to try and stem the feeling, despite how feeble the gesture would seem, but found she had no arms. In fact, her entire being seemed to be formed out of the light swirling around her, suffusing her; it _was_ her._

_The pain stemmed from a black vortex that had opened amidst this sanctuary, shattering the peacefulness and calm. A solitary figure stepped out, wreathed in shadows blacker than the darkest night, so dark one seemed to fall into them if one stared for too long. The figure was clearly male judging from their gait, and his face was shrouded in darkness. He seemed to thrive off of the darkness, never stepping too far into the light, but never seeming to be too afraid of entering it either. The pain receded as he spoke._

"_Twilight approaches." _

_His voice was cold enough to freeze blood in one's veins, to bring about winter on a whim, yet it commanded power and respect all at once. It was the voice of one who regards others with complete disdain: regards all other life with disdain and sees is as something to control. It was a voice that told her that he would not hesitate to kill her, given the chance. Yet there was a strange undertone to it, almost a warmth that should not be there. Before she could puzzle all this out, the pain returned as images she did not recognize flashed before her mind's eye._

"_**Why are you doing this?!?" she saw herself screaming at the same figure that had invaded her mind a moment before.**_

"_**Because I swore I would do so, and who and what you are makes no difference," he replied with a cool, calm air; his voice was tantalizingly familiar.**_

"_**If I have to kill you, I will!" She saw herself rising off the ground now, energy pooling around her, the flow of power bending to her will. Balls of flame coalesced in each of her hands.**_

"_**Try me," he whispered before he vanished in a wave of black smoke, only to reappear in front of her an instant later and sheathe a knife in her belly.**_

_Abruptly, the vision ended. The pain was gone. The figure had vanished as well, but she still heard his voice softly whispering to her:_

"Nothing_ is ever as it seems..."_

XxXxXxXxX

Someone was sobbing her name in a broken, almost pleading voice. She could feel a hand on hers, warm to the touch, squeezing gently as if to provide reassurance, if only to the bearer of the other hand.

"Please, Sylvia, please wake up," she heard a tantalizingly familiar voice whispering.

Memories flashed behind her fluttering eyelids, each one falling into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle as she swam towards the surface of consciousness.

Fire raining down from the sky, burning the town that had once been her home.

A mangled corpse that had once been her mother, accompanied by the one that had once been her father.

A hulking beast standing over the mutilated bodies of children she had known and their families, glaring at her through red eyes over an almost lion-like muzzle.

Running through green fields, laughing, carefree, with her brothers and sisters; they had been so innocent then, an innocence which life ripped from them as easily as an axe rent flesh from bone.

The first time she had worked a spell, effectively lighting a candle with sheer force of will.

Watching her brothers go off to fight a war against a foe they could not defeat. The messenger returning, informing them all that her younger brother was dead.

Crying at night in the shelter she and Adam had been forced to live in until they could escape to the relative safety of Cantha.

The memories started to become more recent, more chronological, and more coherent. The passage across the sea to Cantha. Arriving at Shing Jea. Meeting with Vhang. Meeting Janet. Battling across the Vale to find Ronsu. Training with Ronsu. Watching as Huan hurt Janet. Killing Huan. A flash of white light and a scream. Was Janet-?

"JANET!" she screamed, sitting completely straight up, ignoring the cries of protest she received from her muscles. She desperately and quickly scanned the surrounding area, finding herself still on the beachhead. The waves still lapped gently on the shore; the gulls still shrieked overhead; the sun was setting, though, and was almost completely gone. She felt an enormous weight lift off of her shoulders when she saw Janet sitting in front of her, alive and seemingly healthy, but that weight returned when the memories of what had happened fully settled into place.

"Sylvia! Thank the gods you're awake," Janet was ranting while holding Sylvia, who was could still feel the blood pounding in her ears, "I was so worried! I thought you would never wake up! I thought you might die! I thought-" Janet continued crying until Sylvia grabbed her and wrapped her in a bear hug, effectively crushing her and cutting her off mid-rant.

"I'm sorry." Sylvia was now trying to hold back tears, but she could tell the effort was in vain. "I'm so, so, so sorry. I could have killed you! I thought you were dead, and I almost did it myself! I couldn't live with myself I had done something like that! I... I... I..." Not able to articulate the feelings she felt welling up in he chest, she merely hugged Janet that much tighter. Tears were now falling freely down her cheeks, and were being joined by Janet's on the sand.

For perhaps ten minutes the two sat in companionable silence with tear tracks on their faces and arms around each other, neither saying anything and reveling in the fact that the other was alive. In that time, all that was heard was the sounds of waves touching the beach and the occasional sniffle from one of the girls.

"It's alright, Sylvia," the younger eventually said, wiping her face on her arm, "you wouldn't hurt me intentionally. You're not a bad person. Besides," she continued in a triumphant tone, "we still found this."

She held aloft in her right hand the Stone of the Elements, the very object this whole fiasco had been based around. It glowed with a soft, vinaceous light, its many facets reflecting the now waning sunlight. A soft hum of power could be felt more than heard, and the stone seemed to leer up at them with powers untold. It fit snugly in Janet's clenched fist.

"So much, and for such a small thing," Sylvia murmured, gazing at it absentmindedly. It reminded her vaguely of the pendant her mother used to have. The stones, in both cases, looked almost identical. It would explain her mother's seemingly innate ability to control the weather.

Her musings continued as the environment continued to shift around her, until the sun had sunk lower on the horizon, the last rays feebly lighting their surroundings. The lack of light made the stone almost seem the color of dark amethyst, yet it still clung to its decidedly red hue. It seemed that, even if it was completely dark out, the stone would still appear crimson.

The change in lighting became, quite suddenly, apparent to Sylvia, and she conjured up a small fire to keep them warm. Both girls knew it was futile to even attempt to bring Ronsu the Stone by now. Their 36 hours were going to be up soon, and there was no way they could just teleport back to Ronsu's temple. At least, none they had figured out yet. Regardless, the fire was there for as much support temperature-wise as it was for staving off the anxiousness the two felt clawing around their bellies. It was comforting in its own way; a small consolation that they weren't totally powerless.

The sun was just a small sliver on the horizon when Sylvia heard Janet gasp beside her, and looked over to find her friend's face ashen, clawing at her own stomach.

"Janet? What's wrong?" she asked, feeling her own stomach drop into her feet.

When the younger girl didn't respond verbally, simply gasped in apparent pain, Sylvia began to panic slightly.

"Janet? Janet speak to me!"

"Side... Hurt... Real bad..." she seemed to have lost her sense of grammar through her daze of pain and had since fallen over onto her side.

Sylvia watched in growing horror as Janet's eyes slowly glazed over and finally rolled back in their sockets as the smaller girl started to cough up blood. It was almost ironic: not so long ago, she had been the one who needed help from her friend. Now, Sylvia crouched over Janet's body as Janet lay on the ground, the only sign of life being the ragged gasps coming from her mouth. Even in unconsciousness she was still in pain, and there was nothing to do but watch. Sylvia could not hope to get her to a healer in time.

She screamed, conveying her frustration and anger into the one noise. It was a low, wailing scream, the kind made by a wounded animal that knows its life is over but is unwilling to let go of that one last shred of hope.

Sylvia's scream rose over the Vale like a physical wave, carrying her emotions with it and transferring them to any it touched. Kappa hid in their shells, fearful of their lives. Tigers dove into bushes, into a cave formed by boulders, even between tree roots, anything to try and escape this strange power that was emanating from seemingly nowhere.

On the opposite end of the Vale, Ronsu had just begun his evening tea. Nothing, not even a battle that would decide the future of a nation, could break him of his chamomile tea fix right before bed. However, just before he could take the first sip, Sylvia's scream reached his ears along with its magical counterpart. The sound of china smashing on stones was drowned in the despairing wail. Ronsu looked up towards the heavens, having the distinct impression that something had gone horribly wrong.

Down on the beachhead, a burst of silver light appeared. Gigantic, glowing wings appeared from a figure prostrate on the ground, climbing higher and higher into the sky. Their radiance nearly blinding, the wings continued skyward, stretching their limits, while the figure they were attached to clung, seemingly desperately, to an unmoving form. With a sweeping, soundless movement, the wings came flying downward and wrapped both figures in a ball of light which vanished with only a solitary, snow-white feather as evidence either figure had been there.

XxXxXxXxX

Back at Ronsu's temple, the aforementioned owner was trying to clean up his broken tea cup and shake off the feelings he knew not to be his when a blinding ball of light coalesced directly in front of him. It vanished in less than a second, leaving a grisly sight at this feet. Sylvia was laying on top of Janet, sobbing into her friend's chest and blubbering incoherently as blood trailed down Janet's cheek from her mouth. Raw power emanated from Sylvia as her emotions continued to get the better of her, causing her control to slip. A nearby bush spontaneously burst into flame, threatening to catch one of Ronsu's precious cherry blossom trees on fire.

Realising that someone needed to take charge and calm Sylvia down before she accidentally did something irrevocably harmful. Moving towards the two girls, he reached down with every intention of steering the brunette away from her friend, perhaps giving her some tea (chamomile always did seem to calm others down) before attending to Janet's wounds.

"_NO!"_

He heard the voice in his head so much as out loud. He felt himself moving backward rapidly, pushed by some unseen force, before colliding violently with a wall and seeing stars explode behind his eyelids. He fought the black creeping at the edges of his vision and successfully beat it back. When he looked from where he was lying, still somewhat dazed, he saw Sylvia leaning over Janet still, an intent look in her face mixed with confusion. Ronsu, wondering why the girl would look confused, stood on wobbly legs and walked as best he could over to where the two were still on the ground and studied Janet as well.

She was sleeping peacefully, he breathing seeming to be normal now. The blood that had decorated her face was gone, and her face was no longer an ashen color. Feeling something akin to pride, Ronsu knew he had to congratulate Sylvia on her newfound power.

"I must say, Sylvia, I've never seen anyone master the monk arts as fast as you have. When you left here not two days ago, you didn't seem to have even an inkling of what to do, yet now you have healed Janet's injuries. Simply wonderful!"

Sylvia gazed up at him through lidded eyes before answering.

"I didn't have an inkling of what to do... I still don't... I just... did it..."

Her body slumped and she fell, unconscious, beside her friend.

XxXxXxXxX

**A/N: arrrrrgh... this took FOREVER to write... in fact, this was planned to be much longer (pt 2 of 3), but after careful consideration I have decided that I need to hurry this story along a bit... I swore this would not turn into the Epic of Gilgamesh (props to anyone who recognizes that...) of Guild Wars, so I'm cutting the difference... From here on out, for a while, the story will return to a less AU sort of setting... Weirdness will halt for a bit, but not forever. -evil cackle- Reviews are welcomed!**


	5. Moving On

**Title: **The Canthan Chronicles

**Author:** Timeoffire45

**Rating:** T (for language)

**Disclaimer:** See Profile. Credit to marintha for inspiring me to write this with her story Through the Eyes of Heroes: Prophecies. I think only the idea of a "Mage-Born" is mine... I'm pretty sure that's original...

**Summary:** The story of a young elementalist and her friend as they begin their journey through a Cantha beset by Afflicted, demons, and the Betrayer himself. Factions storyline written out in story format.

**A/N: **Mooooo... Ok, so the last chapter was more so to finish off where Chapter 3 left off... and because that was its only purpose and it took me 2 MONTHS (!!!!) to figure that out, I plan on writing FULL chapters from here on out, no matter how much it may kill me... Rereading my chapters, I realise that Ch3 has MAJOR problems at the end 0.o -gasp- must fix must fix... Random Note: Is it just me, or is rain a recurring theme in my stories as a whole? Maybe it's because rain can mean so much symbol-wise... idk, idc, w/e... ON WITH THE STORY!

A/N2: Because I'm so antsy and really wanna get a new chapter put up, This chapter and the next are being posted WITHOUT being beta'd... I will post revisions as soon as I get them... If you see any errors, tell me: all feedback is welcomed. :-)

_And now, I'msotiredandshouldbeasleepohscrewitit'smidnightTimeoffire45 is proud to present:_

**Chapter Five**

Moving On (At Last)

Rain fell on the last day Sunqua Vale would bear witness to the combined presence of Sylvia and Janet. Both sat in the courtyard: a simple, hand-crafted ward spell was protecting them from the droplets falling all around them. The gentle thrum of power all wards exuded and the sound of raindrops falling softly on leaves were the only things that could be heard over the soft breathing of the two friends. Somewhere, a cricket was chirping to the gloomy sky. Thunder rolled unobtrusively over the Vale almost as if it was an afterthought. Sylvia sighed.

It had been nine months since Sylvia and Janet had both traveled to the beach to find a Stone of the Elements. Nine months since they had been attacked by Huan. Nine months since Sylvia had killed Huan, his screams haunting her in nightmares to this day. Nine months since they had both been transported back to the temple by some strange, benevolent force. Nine months since Sylvia had unwittingly chosen monk arts as her secondary field of study and had healed Janet's wounds. Nine months. Gods, she could have had a baby in this amount of time.

Janet had recovered remarkably from her injuries. Despite the amateurish job Sylvia had done, the girl had healed within a matter of days and was back to studying within a week.

Ronsu had continued teaching them more powerful and inventive ways to utilize the elements around them to their advantage, but soon realised that the energy taxation this placed on the girls was unreasonable for anyone. With that, he taught them of glyphs: symbols of power, made of energy, that channel energy in various ways. He also taught them how to bend the elemental lines of power around them, willing them to converge at their power cores, in essence attuning them to the flow of energy around them and thus making it easier to call on the elements' powers.

However, part of his lesson was that one can not stretch the elemental lines too much, lest the break them off completely. To do so would cause one to lose the ability to ever control the elements in any way, shape, or form. The thought appalled both girls profoundly.

They sat together, side by side, both savoring what they thought would be their last view of the Vale. They had come to call it home over the past year of training. They knew, by now, every niche and cranny that held secrets; they knew the whole thing like the backs of their hands. Still, it was a lonely place, with only the occasional student dropping by for an afternoon or two to take an elementalist crash course. Now, they were both contemplating this loneliness they knew so well, and wondered what it would be like to return to the outside world; they wondered what it would be like once they left the relative safety of the monastery to venture into the real world.

Standing and stretching like a cat, Sylvia let the ward she had been holding slowly fade away. The thrum of power died out. The rain began to gently land on her exposed arm, gliding down the soft flesh like a lover's hand. She had become significantly more tanned since she had arrived: hours upon end spent training in the sun tended to do that to you. Janet, however, had become no darker than when she arrived, yet had somehow not gotten a sunburn once in the entire time they had been here.

Ronsu had informed them the other day that he could teach them nothing more than he had already, and he was going to recommend they be sent to another, better, teacher. Janet lifted herself up and stood next to Sylvia, a comforting arm around her friend's shoulders, though she had to stand nearly on tip-toe to extend her limbs that far. Their silhouettes merged in the mists rising off the ground, until it became impossible to tell where one girl began and another ended. Both were silently shaking.

"Why, hello there!"

Both girls hastily broke apart, wiping their eyes; neither wanted to appear weak. The old, scratchy voice had come from an old man standing at the gates of the courtyard. Judging from the rain soaked into his clothes, it appeared he had walked here. Something about the sight of him buzzed at a place deep within both girls' minds. Where had they seen him before?

"Now, now, don't tell me it has been so long that you two no longer recognize me. After all, I am only the headmaster for this entire monastery."

It was then that the buzzing became a shout; the shout, a name.

"Master Togo!" both cried, apologetic looks on their faces. Both began to speak at once, asking things like "Why are you here?" and "Can I get you anything hot to drink? You must be awfully cold!" and so forth, creating a noise so profoundly confusing that Togo had to hold up a hand to silence both.

"No, there is no reason for you to attend to me in any way. I have faced worse tan this drizzle and lived to tell the tale. And as for why I am here, why don't you ask your instructor?" the elder man asked, gesturing behind the two girls. Ronsu stood behind them, a rather sheepish look on his face.

"You two girls are the most talented I have ever had the privilege to train. Master Togo here has a mission of great importance, and has asked for volunteers from all classes. Only the top four were to make it, and you two both did. Congratulations."

Both of them stared at their teacher in shocked silence. Five seconds passed. Ten seconds passed. Another ten. Somewhere, a hawk cried in defiance.

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" was the rough approximation of the sound that emitted from both girl's mouths, the news finally sinking in. Both of them were screaming incoherently and hugging Ronsu so hard that one might have guessed he had broken a few ribs from the pained expression on his face.

"Girls..." he gasped, "girls, I do need to breathe."

Both stepped back, their faces still alight with joy, but both innerly chastising themselves for loosing control over their emotions like that. Ronsu had always taught them that allowing their emotions to rule their lives would allow their magic to control them when they used it, the results of which could be unpredictable and deadly. Sombre expressions crossed their faces.

"Now, don't look like that. You're allowed to have a moment of happiness. After all, you do deserve it." he said to them, trying to comfort them. Both nodded, still somewhat apologetic.

"So what exactly _is_ this mission?" Sylvia asked, voicing, as always, the question that both she and Janet were thinking; her eyes were sparkling with intensity.

"My friend, Minister Cho, has informed me that there seems to be a disturbance upon his property. As his lands are within Monastery property, it is my duty to assemble a force and investigate just what this disturbance is. I thought it would be a good time for our best students to get some real-life experience." the elder man answered. "You girls think you're up for it?"

"Yes, Master Togo." both replied in unison.

"Good. I'll see you both at the monastery in, oh," he looked upward, seeming to derive the time through the clouds, "five hours. Be in the monastery courtyard fully equipped. We may have a small fight on our hands, so I expect you both to bring your own weaponry. Now then, I shall see both of you later. Good day, Ronsu."

WHEEEEEEEEI'MABREAKLINEWORSHIPMEBOWBEFOREMYAWESOMEVISAGE

One year. The girls tried to wrap their minds around this concept as they walked into Shing Jea for the second time in their career as students. The trip there had been uneventful, to say the least. The rain seemed to be keeping the more unsavory creatures at bay, but that still hadn't prevented a small colony of mantids from trying to make a meal out of them. Janet had dispatched them; they were now nothing more than a few smouldering carcasses.

Sylvia replayed their last conversation in her head.

"_Here girls," the old man had said, "I wast you to have these. They're not very advanced, but they'll do the trick."_

_He held in his hand two wands: each was a metal pole with an ornamented tip of twisted brass with an empty space in the center of said brass. In the other hand he held small bits of what looked like crystals._

_  
"The wands have the empty space at the top for a focal point. Just push power through that and you can fire a small projectile at an enemy. These," he jingled the crystals in his other hand, "are bits for two foci. They amplify and control your power. They work the same way: just focus your power through them and it will improve your control as well as lessen your waste of energy."_

_Sylvia had accepted the wand and focus happily, whereas Janet stood off to the side, an odd look on her face._

"_What wrong?" her friend prompted._

_In response, Janet simply raised her arm until it was at a 90 degree angle with the rest of her body. Flames enveloped her hand and spread about halfway up her arm before shooting parallel to her body out of her hand. Quite suddenly, the flames ceased swirling. In Janet's hand was a wooden staff, a blue cloth wrapping around the handle. The bottom half was fairly plain and nondescript, just a wooden stick. As one moved further up the staff, though, small spires of wood stuck out, curving gently upward, growing more and more in frequency and size until you reached the top, which was a claw of these spires, all of them curved inwardly. In the very center of this claw was a small flame that floated without aid and was burning gently, not touching the wood. _

"_It's the same one I used to kill those monsters that killed my family." she whispered._

Ronsu had explained to Sylvia that mage-borns generally chose a staff for their core staff. It became a part of their being and they could call upon it at will. These staves generally had some special meaning to the person that chose them, and because of the close connection the mage-born had to the staff it could generally channel power far better than any other weapon they would every use. He said that, in time, she could attempt to do something like that, but that she had to choose her weapon carefully. Once she bonded with it, no weapon would serve her as well as her core one would.

Returning to the present, Sylvia noticed the hustle and bustle around herself and Janet. There were teachers and students alike running in all directions with important looks on their faces. The sounds of mock sword fights could be heard as dulled blades clashed and shields banged against each other. Off to the side, soon-to-be rangers practiced their archery skills, a dull _thwang-TWACK! s_ound being produced as arrows were released and found a mark, whether it be the right one or not. All around were the shouts of instructors doing exactly what they were supposed to do: instructing and trying to prevent injury. Sylvia brought a hand to her temple, massaging it gently.

In the center of the chaos that the Courtyard became during instructional periods stood Master Togo. Beside him stood two people: one was a small, petite blonde with flowing blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes; the other was a tall, dark skinned man with exotically slanted, coal-black eyes and cropped, brown hair that stopped just short of his ears. The man's eyes glittered with a strange sort of intensity, one Sylvia could not describe. The lower half of his face was obscured by a blue mask. The former was dressed in the patterned garb of an academy monk, while the latter was dressed in a simple-looking blue outfit that hid its complexity. Sylvia could, and she was sure Janet could too, feel the faint magnetic auras coming from beneath his clothes that signaled the presence of multiple hidden knives.

"Glad you could both make it!" Master Togo called out cheerfully. "These two fine, upstanding students are the best of the Assassin and Monk classes. Girls, I'd like you to meet Lynia Silverbane and Kyalo Moonrider. Kyalo, Lynia, these are Sylvia Aracantus and Janet...?"

"My last name isn't important." the redhead stated simply.

"Very well then, this is Sylvia Aracantus and Janet. They are the top in the Elementalist class. There, introductions made. To move on to important matters, the five of us will meet up with my protegé, Yijo Tahn, in Sunqua Vale. I've already briefed him on what we're going to be doing, so I'd best inform you as well. A few days ago, one of Minister Cho's guards was not so much sent to the Monastery as much as showed up at the gates mumbling incoherently about some great calamity at the Estate. As such, I've assembled this team of our finest students to go and see just what exactly is going on. More than likely we will encounter nothing at all and it was just one guard who went mad, but we can never be too careful. The only thing I ask of all of you is to not take any unnecessary risks. If things get too difficult, we pull out immediately and I will call for the Monastery Guard to take over the situation. Do I make myself clear?"

All four students nodded.

"Alright then, let's go and find Yijo."

HEHEWRITINGINTHECARONTHEWAYTOMICHIGANISFUNBREAKLINEBREAK!!!

Yijo than stood about 6' exactly. He wore a white silk shirt as well as blue silk pants. His boots, which came up mid-calf, were the same blue color as his pants. In still the same color was a small, round hat perched on his head. He had a cocky grin plastered across his face and was holding one of the odly-shaped staves that ritualists tend to prefer: this one was shaped like a regular stick, almost a bo staff, except the proffered end had four spokes, all sticking out at about 45 degrees from the body of the staff, at the very end with a strange sort of wooden webbing between them. It looked harmless enough, but experience had taught Sylvia that nothing was ever as simple as it seemed.

"About time you got them out here, Master Togo," he exclaimed, an arrogant note to his voice that was missed by none. "I was beginning to wonder if they got lost on their way out of the Monastery."

Rage boiled in her stomach, but Sylvia kept her outward appearance in check. Losing control of her emotions would not be good, especially since they were supposed to be acting like a coherent team. Killing Yijo now would very much so damage their team spirit as well as probably get Master Togo a bit angry at her for killing his favorite pupil.

"Yijo! Do not speak that way to other students! They are just as intelligent as you are, or else they would not be here. Bite your tongue, young man!" Master Togo chastised the young man, his tone approaching exasperation. "Is everyone prepared to head out?" he asked the other four.

"Let's do this," Kyalo said in a voice Sylvia could only describe as a low tenor, two wicked knives appearing in his hands from seemingly nowhere. Lynia simply pulled out her staff, a long, ivory affair with a gold and silver ankh at the end and a small, white orb of energy in the loop of the ankh, and nodded hear head in an affirmative. Sylvia and Janet nodded their heads as well.

"Good. Yijo, take point. The rest of you, follow me. Janet, Sylvia, see if you two can conjure up a spell to help us move faster. Time may be of the essence."

Casting a quick air spell to aid their movement was nothing special. On an unspoken command, both girls raised their arms skyward and called the power to them, letting it flow through their arms and directing it at all present. A light gust rippled at everyone's feet, lifting them off the ground and making the effort of running that much less.

As they started towards the Estate, Sylvia began to wonder if perhaps the world was out to get them. They had gone perhaps three miles, about five remained between them and the Estate, and already they had encountered six groups of mantids. It was in these fights that Yijo's skill and power became apparent as he sent a bolt of energized lightning at one insectiod, then gathered power at the tip of his staff and sent a sphere of power at another and punching a smouldering hole through its carpace. Lynia kept them all healed, but had to focus her efforts on Kyalo as he kept using some assassin technique to teleport from one foe to the next, slashing at anything that moved. His close proximity to the creatures meant he took the brunt of the attacks.

Sylvia and Janet kept up a constant stream of energy over his head, with fire raining from the sky and lightning bolts cutting the mantids in half as easily as a hot knife through butter. The focus Ronsu had given Sylvia was helping her efforts immensely, but Janet kept refusing to use her staff, and Sylvia could see the drain this was having on her. In the pit of her stomach, a tendril of worry ghosted its way over her intestines and up through her spine. She told herself that if things got hot, no pun intended, she would make it her priority to protect Janet.

After what seemed like four hours but was, in fact, three and a half, they reached the courtyards that told them they had arrived at their destination. Pink cherry trees dotted the area in beige brick planters. Guards patrolled the area, each giving Master Togo a brief salute before continuing on their patrol. Sunlight filtered through the blossoms of the trees, giving off a kind of ethereal lighting which was aided by the cherry blossom scent permeating the area.

At the gate to the Estate stood a tall man, dressed in ornate guard armor. The dull-grey metal glimmered in the sunlight and the red and gold trim glittered importantly. A helmet in the shape of a dragon's head with the face sticking out where the mouth opened as if in a terrifying roar. As they approached, he held up a hand to halt them.

"Who goes there? No one but Master Togo and the Minister himself may enter here."

"I'm here, you fool," Master Togo spat, stepping out from behind Kyalo, "I'm not truly THAT short. Open this gate this instant."

"Of course Master Togo, I did not see you!"

Ignoring Togo's slightly infuriated look, the guard turned and began winching open the large, red, wooden gate. It was slow business, and it took him about two minutes to raise it the whole fifteen feet to the top. Sounds of battle and screams filtered their way from inside the Estate.

"Gods... What's happening here?" Lynia asked quietly, the first words she had spoken. Her voice was soft and silky; one almost seemed to be drowning in its lilt.

"I do not know, but our job is to find out. Come." Master Togo beckoned imperiously to all five of them.

"Master Togo!" the guard at the gate cried out, "My son is in there! Please, if you see him, make sure he is not harmed!"

"I will do my best." was all Togo replied.

"Madness!" someone screamed at them from the left, startling them all. Turning, they saw a guard with a mad look in his eyes, blood on his sword and armor. He was yelling at them from a good fifteen feet away, but had his attention focused solely on them.

"It's MADNESS, I tell you. Guards turning on each other, people dying EVERYWHERE! You don't know who you can trust anymore, it's INSANITY, I tell you, INSAN-" he was cut off abruptly by a harsh crunching sound, and looked down to see the jagged end of a stick protruding from his chest. He fell in a heap, having just enough time to scream before he died.

Reacting on instinct, Sylvia gathered a sphere of power at the end of her wand and flung the fireball that formed from it at the guard that had impaled his fellow. Beside her, Janet and Yijo did the same. The attacks hit him square in the head, blowing it off. A fountain of blood sailed skyward. A greenish haze began oozing out of the spot his head had just vacated. His body fell to the ground silently and heavily, like a sack of rice. Silence reigned as the ramifications of what was truly going on hit home.

"Well," said Togo, breaking the silence, "this is going to get interesting, indeed."

ENDOFCHAPPIEWOOTDONEFINALLYOMFGTHATTOOKFOREVERAAAAAAAH!!!

Word Count: 3546

Wooo! So, at last the story moves on... Erg... I was afraid I was gonna get stuck on Shing Jea... Admittedly, I'm still there, but maybe about 3-4 chapters from getting away from that god-forsaken rock...

Reviews are welcomed :-) I will give all who review cookies! Remember, the little purple button down in the bottom left corner likes love... :-)


	6. Minister Cho's Estate

**Title: **The Canthan Chronicles

**Author:** Timeoffire45

**Rating:** T (for language)

**Disclaimer:** See Profile. Credit to marintha for inspiring me to write this with her story Through the Eyes of Heroes: Prophecies. I think only the idea of a "Mage-Born" is mine... I'm pretty sure that's original...

**Summary:** The story of a young elementalist and her friend as they begin their journey through a Cantha beset by Afflicted, demons, and the Betrayer himself. Factions storyline written out in story format. Rated T for language.

**A/N: **Wooo... We're driving to Michigan to see family (I'm in the passenger seat) for the holidays, and no one wants to talk, so I'm writing... So, a slight warning: this might end up heinous... I'm not feeling particularly inspired at the moment, but I'm forcing myself to write... ah well, what's the worst that can happen? Many thanks to my beta, if she doesn't kill me for giving her such sub-standard crap... Also, I'm trying a new-ish breakline tactic for the last chapter and (now) all my future chapters: one that will hopefully keep you entertained :-)

A.N2: Remember... no beta :-/

_And now, I'minthecarandI'mtypingonmylaptopwhichisheatingupreallyfastTimeoffire45 presents:_

**Chapter Six**

Minister Cho's Estate

There was still a gentle rain falling. It came down in delicate sheets, almost like satin. It misted the ground, the buildings, the plants. It left small droplets of moisture on the blades of grass and the leaves. A slight breeze carried the rain through the air, sending it cascading in whirls to the ground. The smell of moisture permeated the atmosphere. The birds were silent, sitting on their perches in trees to await the coming end of the weather.

A fireball impacted on a tree, causing the wood to hiss as the moisture covering it vaporized and it burst into flames. The aforementioned birds took to the sky, shrieking in indignation at the destruction of their home.

"Watch it, Sylvia!" Togo yelled, sending a blue-green bolt of lightning at the man she had been aiming for just a few seconds prior. He made no noise as the lightning consumed him, merely fell to the ground no longer breathing.

"Sorry Master Togo, I'll be sure to take better aim next time."

"Good girl, now let's move on."

They had encountered light resistance so far, only a few lone guards who seemed to not be in their right minds. Each of these guard had a strange green haze floating about their head, and none of them made any noise, not even when Kyalo cut the throat of one in one vicious sweep of his blades. It had become obvious to all of them why Yijo was so valued by Master Togo: he kept his cool in battle, followed orders with ease, and, to top it all off, was incredibly powerful. What's more, he had absolute control over his power.

So far there had been no sign of the guard's missing son, but Sylvia was confident they would be able to find him easily enough. How big could the estate be?

"Heads up!" Kyalo yelled as four sickened guards charged at their position. He teleported to the nearest one and slashed at the calf, crippling them man and forcing him to engage Kyalo.

"Hold them still for a second!" Yijo yelled.

"Gladly!" Sylvia shouted as she fired off a spell at the remaining guards. The moisture in the air around them condensed into water, collected itself around their legs, and then dropped dramatically in temperature. The results of this were that all three guards were trapped beneath the waist in a sheet of ice. Without pausing, all of them began to hack at it with their swords and axes, trying to break free.

Yijo seemed to be deep in concentration, but them flung his arms towards the trapped guards. A blue-green ball of light rose from the ground at the guards' feet, hovered above them for perhaps a second, then exploded in a fantastic whirl of blue-green energy. A two meter deep crater souldered where the guards had stood a moment before.

Behind that, Kyalo was desperately trying to find an opening to kill this annoying man. He had so far kept his vital areas well protected, and Kyalo was running out of energy to keep up this constant dodge-parry technique. Without warning, the guard slashed at his arm. He tried to deflect the blow using his knives, but was a fraction of a second too late. Blood spilled from the wound just below his shoulder, but he saw his opening: the guard had overextended himself, leaving his chest wide open. He lunged, planting his knife square in the man's heart. The sickened guard dropped like a rock, making no noise except for a muted _thud!_ as he hit the ground. Lynia wasted no time in healing Kyalo's injuries, and it was time to move on again.

"Run for your lives! They've gone mad!" shrieked a voice in the distance. The source became clear as three guards ran over a small bridge coming directly for them, no less than five sickened guards chasing them. Janet and Sylvia reacted first, Janet conjuring up a stone weighing at least a ton and flinging it at the pursuing guards. It hit one of them with a _CRUNCH! _Blood oozed from underneath the boulder. Sylvia drew up a swarm of mist around her, condensing it further until she had a storm of ice shard floating around her as sharp as any sword. With no external command, the shards raced towards the oncoming guards, impaling them. They fell like sacks of bricks, their weapons clattering to the ground.

"No! My brother!" one of the guards was now crying, kneeling beside the rock Janet had conjure up and bawling his eyes out.

"Come, there is much still left to do. There is nothing we can do for him." Master Togo beckoned to them all.

Crossing the bridge, they came to another wooden gate. Without waiting to be ordered, Sylvia brought up a hand and burned it to cinders in less time than it takes to blink. Beyond stood perhaps five isolated groups of three to four guards. All of them had a greenish haze surrounding their heads.

"I count eighteen," said Lynia, "which is definitely manageable. Kyalo just has to make sure they focus on him instead of us. I should be able to keep us all safe."

"Right. Got it." Kyalo responded, rushing forward. Lynia began muttering an incantation, reciting words in Latin. She pointed her staff in Kyalo's direction, and a burst of white light shot towards him, enveloping his torso in a swirl of dazzling blue-white sparkles. As at least six sickened guards rained blow after blow on his form, the wounds began to be healed as soon as they were inflicted.

"Go!" Lynia shouted.

As one, the remaining four casters unleashed a barrage of magic at the guards, all of whom were caught unawares. Kyalo managed to leap away from the resulting explosion milliseconds before it occurred. A warm red rain began to fall in large droplets. The rain of blood, as well as the explosion, attracted the attention of the remaining twelve guards. Silently, they charged.

"Great," Janet muttered, "that's only two apiece. Easy enough."

Dodging a sword swung in her direction, she called down a lightning bolt that blew off the arm holding the offending weapon. Sylvia dispatched the wounded man with a fireball that consumed his flesh. Togo and Yijo were off to the side, throwing their strange lightning bolts at any who came near. Lynia cast a protection spell on Yijo as a guard strayed a bit too close, nicking him in side but not doing any serious damage. The battle descended to near-chaos as the group of six sane humans were forced to back up onto the bridge.

"That does it!" Sylvia shouted, rushing forward and letting her frustration and anxiety get the better of her, her power excess causing her to float a foot above the ground. "Get the fuck away from us, you bastards!"

A ring of fire surrounded her body, and she gave a tremendous cry. A single line of fire appeared above her head and shot into the sky. Within a second, fireballs the size of two men began raining down form the heavens, smashing into the bridge as well as the guards who had pursued them. Flesh and wood burned together.

Sylvia doused the fire to prevent it from burning the entire bridge, then conjured up a bridge of ice.

"Go, now!" she shouted at them, strain showing through on her face, "I'm not sure how long I can hold this thing up."

Quickly, they all advanced across, the bridge hissing and dissolving behind them after Sylvia crossed. She collapsed in the grass and just lay there, trying to regain her strength. Maintaining that bridge had cost her, especially once the added weight of the people had been introduced. Janet knelt down beside her, silently asking with her eyes if she was alright.

"Come, we must reach the Minister. I pray that it is not too late to save him." Togo beckoned them to move on. Two pairs of eyes glared daggers at him, but he either did not notice or chose to ignore it.

As the other four moved away, Janet helped Sylvia drag herself to her feet.

"If he keeps us going like this, he's going to get us killed." Sylvia muttered quietly.

"Well, remember, Ronsu made hell freeze over, so no worries."

Both girls chuckled quietly at their private joke, enjoying the two second reprieve. Standing straighter, both nodded at the other before silently running to catch up with the rest of their group. They knew only more killing awaited them, but they had each other, and there wasn't a force on the face of the planet that would drive them apart now.

OHHOWILOVESNOWESPECIALLYWHENWE'REDRIVINGANDCAN'TSEETHEROAD

"What is THAT?"

The question was asked by Sylvia and Kyalo simultaneously, both staring at the strange creature off in the distance. It looked faintly human and was standing on two legs, but the shoulders seemed to rise up in a hill of flesh until they encapsulated the space where the head should have been. It looked as if the creature had been wearing armor, but had swollen until bulges of skin wrapped around the articles, enveloping them. Using both hands, it easily held a hammer made of a block of stone at the end of a crude wooden haft. It had strange, orange-yellow ripples of power flowing from its body.

"I do not know, but it looks as if whatever affliction these guards are suffering from has consumed this creature." Togo responded.

"Well then, let's kill it." Janet stated matter-of-factly. Rushing forward, she brought her hands together before her, lightning gathering in her palms. Within a second, it had coalesced into a physical sphere. With a whispered incantation, the orb of lightning flew from her palms at the afflicted creature. Before it made contact, the afflicted looked up and swung its hammer wildly at the oncoming ball of light, knocking it out of its path. An explosion rocked the earth a good fifty feet from where it was standing.

It charged.

"Kyalo! Engage it!" Togo yelled over the warbling shouts of the oncoming creature.

Nodding mutely, Kyalo ran towards it, slashing out at a leg in an attempt to slow it down. It payed him no heed, instead rushing straight at Janet, lifting its hammer up and bringing it down in a vicious swing. She tried to evade, but screamed as her arm was nearly snapped in half form the force of the blow. Continuing the motion, the hammer was swung around 360 degrees and squarely impacted her abdomen. Ribs could be heard snapping like twigs.

Lynia was already healing her from afar with support spells to prevent her from going into shock.

Sylvia saw red.

"Fucker! Take this!" she screamed, raising up from the ground at least three feet, her arms weaving around her in a complex movement as she muttered an incantation. Fire gathered around her in a swirling vortex. Finished, she screamed her rage and flung her arms at the creature. A great raptor composed of flames rose up behind her, its beak opening in a soundless screech. For a moment, it was impossible to any who were looking on if it was Sylvia creating the great keening noise heard or the phoenix she had conjured. Abruptly, the spell was broken as the bird gave a great flap of its wings, launching itself towards the afflicted monster. For a moment, she could have sworn she saw fear fill its eyes. Then it didn't have eyes. It didn't have a mouth to scream. It didn't have limbs with which to flail. It didn't have a chest to draw breath with or to house a beating heart in anymore. It was just a pile of ashes.

From the pile of ashes issued a scream, a scream of someone who has been locked in a room for days on end with no food, water, or company except that of their tormentors. Without warning, A green wave exploded from the pile of ashes, knocking Sylvia and Kyalo (who had still been trying to draw the attention of the creature) to the ground, and pushing Janet's limp body over to Lynia who was kneeling in prayer to Dwayna, the energy curling around her staff like an anaconda, waiting to heal something.

Sylvia could see black poking at the edge of her vision. Off to the side, she noticed Lynia desperately trying to set Janet's bones in the correct order before healing them. Muttering a swift incantation, she felt a warm breeze tickling her eyelashes, bringing healing energy with it. Hoping Lynia would find her and see to her soon, she let the black consume her as the energy loss and exhaustion she had inflicted upon herself was too great.

OMFGMY"D"KEYKEEPSFALLINGOFFMYLAPTOPKEYBOARDIWANNAMURDERIT

She felt the same warm breeze as when she had passed out, but this time it was more insistent, more powerful. Lynia, she thought.

"Good, you're awake." Yijo remarked coldly, staring down at her prone form on the ground, "Whatever that thing was, it's dead now. We've also killed a few guards that charged down the hill through that gate," he gestured to one on the far side of the courtyard, "although we found a few chasing them that were apparently not sickened. They proved most useful. They helped us fight them off, and also were kind enough to inform us that we have to go through the Minster's zoo of rather exotic animals next if we want to reach him. It's too late to turn back now, so we can only hope to accomplish our mission as fast as possible. You can thank her," here he nodded to Lynia, "for keeping you alive during the fighting and for bringing back your little friend. We can't afford more than a few moments rest, so get on your feet and lets head out."

He took a deep breath, seemingly winded by his long tirade.

Sylvia stood, shaking her head to clear the last of the stars from her vision. Surveying the area, she found that there were indeed additional bodies strewn about the small courtyard they found themselves in. There were still occasional screams coming from all around as men battled for their lives against those they had come to call friends. The slight rain had let up, and the sun was peaking out from behind the clouds, a gigantic topaz hanging in the sky obscured by cotton balls. Janet was standing behind Yijo, a worried expression on her face which cleared as Sylvia sent her a reassuring smile.

"Are you ready to move on?" Togo asked her gently.

Instead of verbally responding, Sylvia sent a wave of fire magic at, and exploded, the head of a sickened guard that had been, up until now, trying to sneak up behind all the others. It had probably been taking advantage of the fact that they were paying attention to her instead of their surroundings. A new layer of blood was added to the red canvas that was the ground, the source falling limply and silently to the ground.

"Good." was the older man's only reply as he started towards the gates of the Minister's zoo, the others rushing to catch up with him. He moved fast for an old geezer.

By the time they had crossed a ravine where, thankfully, the bridge was still intact and approached the branching staircases that brought one to the zoo, the sun was alone in the sky. It gazed down at them, magnificent, impossibly large, and totally unhelpful.

Janet spoke up from her right, "Well, this is... interesting..."

She was looking at the layout of the zoo. Essentially, it was just a very large field that had walls surrounding it, but a staircase and bridge over the wall at the far end. Animals roamed free in the large field, and there was nothing that prevented them from maiming some innocent person wh owas just dropping by for a visit.

"D'you think he uses this as some sort of sick test?" Janet was wondering aloud, "You know, like to see if they're worthy of licking his boots, he first sees if someone can find him through this maze then puts a field full of possibly dangerous animals in their path. If they survive, they MUST be good enough to see him. Disgusting..."

Togo had an odd expression on his face, but made his displeasure known, "Janet, I have been told that the Minister merely enjoys these animals and that they are in no way, shape, or form dangerous. In fact, look, here they come now."

Approaching were four animals that Sylvia recognized as Striders: large, red birds that could not fly but had wicked talons on their elongated legs and feet that could assist in running faster than any human as well as tearing huge rents in flesh. Their beaks, which were as long as her whole arm, could easily rip out someone's eyes. Normally, they were tamed so as to be ridden, but these striders had a green haze floating about their head, which could only be bad.

"Master Togo, they're sickened!" she yelled while letting loose a barrage of ice shards at the birds' feet, hoping to slow them down.

Kyalo had teleported, or 'shadow stepped' as he had explained, to a random strider and had proceeded to cut its over sized head from its under sized neck. The remaining striders were easily dispatched by lightning bursts, whether it be the strange, blue-green kind or the normal, brilliantly white kind.

"Why do you guys get to have all the fun? I'm bored..." Lynia was muttering from her place behind all of them, using her teammates to shield herself as was standard.

There was no warning, just a rustle of grass behind her, when suddenly she found claws digging into her skin and teeth trying to get at her throat.

Janet had already sounded the alarm to the others, so Sylvia took aim at the nearest grizzly and let loose a fireball that ignited its fur and sent it running in circles until it collapsed in a burning heap. Around that, the other grizzly bears were being tossed around by huge boulders that were swirling around an area with a ten meter diameter, their bodies limp as rag dolls. Once the boulders had settled back into the earth, leaving four battered and bloodied bears with limbs hanging at odd angles, Sylvia rushed forward to try and heal what she could of Lynia's wounds.

Taking a swift assessment, she found that the girl was, thankfully, still alive, but had multiple lacerations. It was pure luck, but none of the bears had manged to break any of her bones by laying on her. The girl was made of sterner stuff than Sylvia had originally thought. Trying desperately to remember what little Ronsu had taught her about healing, she put her hand on the small girl's cut stomach and breathed a quick and simple incantation. It partially did what she wanted: it began healing the girl's wounds, but it also woke her up.

Lynia screamed in pain.

"Come on, Lynia, didn't they train you in how to cope with pain? Focus on your training." Sylvia was saying while holding her by the shoulders, trying to get their monk to stop bawling.

Slowly, Lynia did cease in her screams, and finally she stood up, examined the wounds that Sylvia had healed, and declared them to be passable. She then hobbled over to her staff and proceeded to heal her remaining wounds herself; muscle and skin knitted back together and nerves reconnected in ht e proper order under her watchful eyes. When she had finished, she sat on a convenient boulder with a reproachful look in her eyes.

Slowly, Togo approached her and for perhaps five minutes they had a hushed conversation that Sylvia could decipher nothing of. She, Janet, and Kyalo exchanged worried glances while Yijo stood off to the side looking bored. When the two had finished, they stood and rejoined the group.

Over the next hour or so, what was supposed to have been an expeditionary force battled innumerous creatures, all of them diseased, that would rush over the expanse of the field and attack without warning or provocation. They left a trail of dead animals that included things from warthogs to jaguars to tigers. When they finally reached the other side, a collective sigh could be heard.

Up ahead was a group of sickened guards and others whom Sylvia could not recognize. Again, all were diseased. It seemed that the closer they got to the Minister, the fewer the number of those clean from infection. She asked Togo about the new people.

"Ah, they are the Minister's personal servants. He has trained them to be ritualists or elementalists, so be on your guard."

"Kyalo, can you take out the two guards? I'll handle the servants."

He nodded silently before shadow stepping from where he stood to behind the guards. He plunged his knife into the back of one directly above where the heart would be before drawing his other knife and raking it across the other guard's throat and shadow stepped back to where Sylvia stood.

"Done" he stated simply.

The two sickened servants were still rushing at them, situated at the top of the bridge to get out of the zoo as they were, and began firing off something very similar to what Janet and Sylvia still called their "flare" spell, though it was obvious that they couldn't aim to save their lives when the spells hit everywhere around her instead of actually hitting her. For some reason, having her own spell used against her awoke something inside of her, and that something was angry.

"How DARE you use MY spell against me? Take THIS, bitches!"

Conjuring up a fireball as large as she could, meaning it dwarfed her body , she sent it hurtling at the two servants. They were incinerated by the mass of fire sent flying their way, and a ten foot deep crater was the only grave they would ever have.

The sound and size of the fireball, though, had attracted the attention of every guard and servant outside of the Minister's palace. Janet, Sylvia, Kyalo, Yijo, and Togo began killing left and right, while Lynia desperately tried to keep them from sharing their fates with those around them. Swords clanged on elemental defenses while those same elements were used to maim and kill guards. Servants conjured up discs of fire and hurled them at the group of six, necessitating them to move around almost constantly. Kyalo slashed left and right, trying to kill in as few hits as possible and avoid being killed at the same time.

It took them nearly thirty minutes, but by the time they had finished not a single guard or servant was left standing. Lynia looked about ready to collapse again, and, though he tried to conceal it, Kyalo looked about ready to do the same. His blades were painted crimson, and his armor adorned numerous gashes from where he had been stabbed or cut, though those wounds themselves were sealed thanks to Lynia. Yijo, as usual, stood off to the side with a bored look on his face. Sylvia sent out a tendril of her healing magic to both Lynia and Kyalo, not enough to tax her to the point of exhaustion, but enough to keep both of them conscious and stable.

"There, there," Togo was reassuring both of them, possibly realising for the first time that students were not as battle-hardened nor as relentless as the common jar-headed guard, "take a moment to regain your energy and strength. It's not your fault that you're tired: you simply haven't learned the elementalist trick of raising your energy level to amazing proportions."

It took nearly ten minutes of Togo's encouragement and Sylvia's gentle aid, but eventually the two got on their feet and stared resolutely ahead at the palace where the Minister was supposed to be cowering.

KILLMETHISHASTAKENMESOOOLONGTOWRITEAAAAAAH...I'MSOOOOTIRED...

They encountered no resistance at the entrance. That, in and of itself, was surprising. No politician left the front door open to attack. Wandering further inside, Sylvia became acutely aware of some sickly-sweet stench. It permeated the area like a toxic cloud, clinging to everything it touched. There was a buzzing as of angry voices all around them. Her foot bumped into something; something that yielded like a rubber band yet felt disgustingly solid. Looking down, she screamed.

Littered everywhere, starting about ten meters from the entrance, were bodies: bodies of servants and guards. There were maggots coming out of almost every orifice and flies on almost every surface. Dried and caked blood littered the walls, adding a ferric scent to the grisly scene.

"Janet, Sylvia," Togo said, catching her attention, "please burn us a path. They deserve a better burial, but at the moment there is nothing else we can do."

Holding their breath, both girls complied, sending rivers of fire racing down the hallway, burning the bodies in their way. The fire helped to alleviate the smell, if only for a brief period.

"Come," Togo solemnly called to them, racing on the still-hot stones towards their goal. Janet and Sylvia were forced to burn a path almost through the entire complex until they arrived at a large stone archway. The bodies stopped.

"The minister should be in here." Togo stated simply and walked inside.

Inside was brilliantly lit, with huge stone braziers having been placed all throughout the room. There were red banners dotting the walls with various guild emblems adorned on each. At the far end stood three men, one dressed in the purple robe indicative of a member of government, the other two in flanged armor, each holding a broadsword. The elite guard, Sylvia surmised.

"Minister Cho!" Togo called out cheerfully, "I am so happy to see that you are unhar-"

He balked. Minister Cho had a faint, green haze surrounding his upper body. What's more, the eyes that now stared at Togo were blank, just empty whites. The minister's mouth hung open, slack and unmoving. His guards were the same. The three bodies fell soundlessly to the floor.

"Well..." Togo started, apparently trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened, "Well..."

A gurgling sound had started to emit from the minster's body. Suddenly, he stood upright, a maniacal smile painting his face. His face began to bulge to impossible proportions as he fell to his knees and his legs began to fuse together in a mass of flesh. His arms lengthened and thinkened until they were almost as big around as a tree. His legs, now completely fused, sprouted four stubby limbs that bent in the middle to support his now changed body. Pops and snaps could be heard as his skeletal structure rearranged itself into this new quadrupedal form. It looked like a demented centaur.

The monster that the minister had become raised its arms skyward and the bodies of the minster's guards exploded, sending chunks of flesh flying everywhere. Where they had been stood two bone horrors, bipedal corpses that had one arm with no hand that was covered in spikes and another arm, small and flimsy, that adorned a three-fingered, clawed hand. They attacked with mindless savagery.

Janet and Sylvia focus there efforts on the horrors, but were doing little to no good. How could oyu kill what was already dead? Behind their focus, Yijo and Kyalo were desperately trying to kill the thing that had been the minister and was now trying to kill them. It conjured up a ball of dark energy in its palm which it hurled at its closest attacker, Kyalo, missing him by inches. Togo stood off to the side, seemingly unable to grasp the fact that one of his friends had just died before his eyes.

"Sylvia! Janet!" Yijo's voice rang over the warbles of the afflicted minister, "Don't bother with those things! Kill the source, and they'll die."

With this new knowledge, but girls poured their attacks at the afflicted creature before them. It had grabbed Kyalo by the upper arm and it seemed it was trying to eat his head when Janet struck the arm with a dagger of stone, knocking the creature off balance and forcing it to drop the assassin.

"Now?" Janet asked, looking inquiringly at Sylvia.

"Now," she responded.

Both girls raised themselves off the ground, ignoring the bone horrors rushing their way, and yelled out a quick incantation, grasping hands. A scintillating sphere of pure energy gathered between them before launching itself at the afflicted minster, blowing off its upper body. The same scream that they heard before when they killed the other afflicted creature burst from the body, and the same force wave that had flown out of the pile of ashes now flew out of the remains of the minster, ripping what remained of the body to pulp and sending all present flying backward. The bone horrors, inches from taking off the elementalists' faces, dissolved into green sludge.

"It's done." Sylvia intoned, "He was already dead, we just killed what was left. Master Togo, I think we need to find out what's going on here..."

This seemed to bring Togo out of his daze. "Yes, but first we must get out of here. In the back, here, there's a panel that opens a passage that leads to Ran Musu Gardens. We'll use it to escape and plan further once we arrive there. Quickly!" he finished, having found the panel. A huge slab of stone ground its way two meters to the left, revealing a passage into the hill that the estate was built on.

They rushed into the tunnels, unsure of what awaited them on the other side or what this meant for the future.

ENDOFCHAPPIEMYBRAINISNOWROTTINGFROMTELEVISIONSAVEMEMOMMYxD

**Because I forgot it in all previous chapters (except number five), here's the breakdown:  
**_Word Count Chapter One: 3946  
Word Count Chapter Two: 3052  
Word Count Chapter Three: 2463_

_Word Count Chapter Four: 2305  
_**Word Count Chapter Six: 5000 (wow... 5000 flat... 0.o)  
A/N: wow that was the fastest I've ever written a chapter... hopefully it didn't suffer too much because of it... please forgive me! XD**

**Also, as a point of interest, I've begun writing a new story that will be about Elona. If there's anything you've wanted to see happen in Nightfall, something you think you be funny, cool, witty, earth-shattering, etc, let me know in either a message or review... You never know, I may be able to work it in :-)  
Remember, that little purple button in the corner is the switch to the cookie machine! Give it love!**


	7. Of Bad Days and Best Laid Plans

**Title: **The Canthan Chronicles

**Author:** Timeoffire45

**Rating:** T (for language)

**Disclaimer:** See Profile. Credit to marintha for inspiring me to write this with her story Through the Eyes of Heroes: Prophecies. I think only the idea of a "Mage-Born" is mine... I'm pretty sure that's original...

**Summary:** The story of a young elementalist and her friend as they begin their journey through a Cantha beset by Afflicted, demons, and the Betrayer himself. Factions storyline written out in story format.

**A/N: **WOW It's been a while since I've updated... A big thank you to the few people who actually reviewed the last chapter! I haven't looked at the hit count recently, but I'm sure it's rather abysmal... Anywho, that all is pointless... What I'm really here to say is I'M SORRY to those of you (the, like, 4 of you) who put this story on your favs/alerts and who haven't seen an update from it in ages... I have actually been trying to come up with a way to start this chapter because this WAS going to be one of those filler-type chapters and I suck at writing those... But, because of a review from a certain someone -coughcoughKonekocoughcough- I was actually randomly inspired while sitting on a bus for how this whole chapter will go down... Yay for plot bunnies, eh? So: sit back, relax, and enjoy; this is all as much a surprise to you as it is to me --Just a warning: this one will center on a character from about, oh, six chapters back whom you might have forgotten about; if you have no idea who they (the character) are whatsoever, then SHAME ON YOU! YOU NEED TO READ CHAPTER ONE! XD Also, because it is mentioned in this chapter, I KNOW that I said Janet looked to be 16 back in chapter one; well, she's actually 18: she just looks reeeally young (and is short for her age... part of the whole mage-born thing... will be explained in full eventually, fear not)

**A/N2:**Sorry about the other uber-long author's note... -slapforehead-

_And now, The"d"keyonmylaptopkeepspoppingoffrawrTimeoffire45 is proud to present:_

**Chapter Seven**

Of Bad Days and Best Laid Plans

He could hear the army following him, each member baying for his blood. The sound of their voices, enraged at the murder of their leader, grated harshly on his eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. Boots thudded in a never-ceasing roll of thunder. Armor gnashed against armor as they gave chase, each soldier wanting to rip him to minuscule pieces.

Crimson flowed from the blades in his hands in rivulets, evidence of his deeds. His legs ached from attempting to traverse the sandy marshes of the peninsula so rapidly, but he knew that speed was the difference between life or death. His face betrayed none of the panic racing through his mind, hiding it behind both an emotional mask as well as a physical mask that obscured all but his coal-black eyes; eyes that were hard and unyielding. Vicious, blood-lined slash marks covered his navy-blue clothing, indicating that the wearer had recently been wounded and hastily healed.

Adam Aracantus was _not_ having a good day.

A Crimson Skull patrol was guarding a passage through the cliffs ahead about twenty-five meters away, their red-and-black tunics billowing slightly in the breeze. If he wanted to get off this god-forsaken spit of rock and sand called Panjiang Peninsula, then he knew he would have to go through them. To add to his difficulties, he was running out of weapons. The only advantage he had was that they still hadn't spotted him practically limping towards where they stood.

One of the soldiers, a woman, barked a command at the others. They stiffened noticeably at her harsh tones; perhaps this was the patrol commander? They re-formed their ranks, organizing until the bulk of their strength was facing _in_ward, defending against a force from within. Somehow, a message had reached them that an enemy was headed their way. So much for the element of surprise.

The army behind him was becoming louder. He knew he needed to act now, or else he would be torn to pieces from behind. There were only ten soldiers in the patrol versus his one. How much of a proble could they be?

Chanting softly, he felt as much as saw a shadow wrap itself around his body and solidify, forming an added layer of armor. A second chant had multiple shadows wrapping around his blades, thin, black tendrils connecting them back to himself. The shadow armor fluctuated, covering all of him except for his eyes. He was ready.

Abandoning his relative safety, Adam sprinted across the field between his position and the guards in approximately five seconds flat. By that time, of course, they had figured out he was coming, but there was nothing they could do.

He shouted harshly, purple-black light enveloping his hands as he paused for a split second and slammed them into the ground. The familiar there-not-there feeling of a shadow step engulfed him for a moment, and then he was beside the group leader, his dagger slitting her throat. Her blood fountained into the air in a crimson arc. Before it could land, Adam reached for one of his few remaining knives and flung it as hard as he could at the only guard with a bow. His aim was true, and the knife embedded itself with a _shunk_ in the man's skull, protruding from his forehead.

The remaining guards blinked.

One of them, possibly the second-in-command, yelled an oath and swung his axe at Adam in a vicious arc. The assassin dropped to the ground, easily avoiding the blow, and slashed upward with his daggers. The man went down screaming, trying to gather his innards back together before he died. He was soon followed by the man standing closest to him, who, like his leader, had his throat cut.

By now, the others were fully prepared for an attack and had brought their shields and swords to bear. Six of them. One of him. This time, however, they were ready for him, and they had an army on the way. The odds were beginning to slip in their favor.

Adam threw another knife at the Crimson Skull nearest him, but the woman deftly blocked the projectile with her shield, the weapon sinking two inches into the hardened steel. Lifting her shield out of the way, she brought her sword down in a vertical swing. Adam was forced to parry the blow off of his own blades to avoid having his arm severed. Even as he did this, he felt the swords of two of her fellows glance off of the armor he had spelled into place, depleting the magical barrier partly.

He parried two more blows at once, one in front and one from behind, before feeling a third bite into his side. He hissed through his teeth at the pain, but brushed it off and raked his blades over the arm holding the offending weapon. The soldier dropped his sword with a cry, blood gushing where the assassin had severed his brachial artery; he would be dead in minutes. Five down, five to go. The army in the distance was growing louder still. Individual cries were becoming discernible.

Now his foes were growing slightly wary: they no longer took risks and seemed to be biding their time. Time was exactly what he didn't have. Whispering a quick spell, Adam felt as much as saw a black haze rush around him and begin to seal his wounds. The surface damage would heal, but the internal injuries were beyond him and would have to wait until he saw a proper healer; that is, of course, assuming he lived long enough to get to one.

With a curse, he rushed one of the remaining guards, striking out with his blades. The man brought his shield to bear, precisely what Adam had been expecting. With practiced ease, he maneuvered his daggers in a flurry of motion, striking the shield so that the full force of his attack went into cracking the offending barrier in half. The only problem with this trick was that it left one with both hands down, no way to defend oneself; of course, there were ways around this. As he completed the motion, Adam swung his leg out and around, pushing a modicum of energy into the spring in his boot. A blade sprung out just in time to rake across the guard's face, bringing him to his knees with a howl of pain. A further burst of energy had the blade retracting back into the assassin's boot as he slashed upwards at the man's throat, slicing through the carotid.

Staring at his four remaining foes, Adam couldn't help but let his mind wander for a split second. This mission was supposed to be so simple; it was supposed to go off without a hitch. The Crimson Skull were getting far too rowdy and too invasive, so Master Togo had ordered Panaku to eliminate their leader: Captain Quimang. Panaku had, as was his custom, relegated this seemingly simple task to some of his more able students. Though few knew of it, the man held no great love of Togo and, in general, refused to "waste my time on his petty trifles." Also, he generally did not send his best students when they were requested, but instead saved them for times when he himself was asked to do something for the old man.

As such, when Panaku received the orders to kill Quimang and break the will of the Crimson Skull, he sent Adam, Xia, and Izitzu in his stead. Izitzu had been, without a doubt, the most skilled student under Panaku's tutelage at the time. Such a shame that now she was dead. In fact, she had died first, holding off wave after wave of warriors in an attempt to give her teammates a chance to escape.

He wasn't quite sure how it happened, but somehow, just before they struck down Quimang, they had been spotted by a patrol creeping into the harbor where the coward was hiding out. They killed the men and women that spotted them with startling efficiency, but the bodies were found minutes later, thus raising the alarm. It was a careless mistake, leaving the dead in plain sight, but it was either that or risk someone noticing the group was missing while forcing the team to slow its progress, thus still increasing their chances of being caught.

The wards surrounding the Captain had been child's play, taking no more than ten seconds to destroy completely. He turned out to be, himself, even more of a disappointment than his defenses: he was short, fat, balding with a beard, and made no noise other than his snores and a gurgling sound when his throat was ripped out. Pitiful, if he was to be honest with himself.

Again, though, the Crimson Skull surprised them: they rallied around their dead commander with startling speed, amassing an army of more than two hundred soldiers in less than ten minutes. As the assassins fled, this army gave chase and slowly but surely gained ground through their superior knowledge of the terrain. It was in this way that Izitzu and Xia had both died: Izitzu holding them off in a desperate bid for time, and Xia by stepping on a trap which severed both her legs beneath the knees. Bleeding, she instructed Adam to leave her there and run. Her screams still rang hollowly in his ears as he fought for his life yet again.

A sword swung by his head close enough that is grazed his cheek, leaving a thin, red line of blood and effectively breaking his train of thought. Musings later; killing now.

As one, the remaining warriors charged, all bringing their blades down in vertical, glittering arcs. Adam sidestepped all of their attacks, thrusting out wildly at one of his opponents. His dagger embedded itself in the man's humerus, eliciting a howl of pain from said man, yet refused to budge any further.

Blades were being turned back towards him. Metal gleamed coldly in the stiflingly humid air, swinging at his head. He deflected two, still desperately wrenching at his dagger. The extra movements caused the warrior to scream in pain again and finally pass out, taking Adam down with him. In the process, he also saved the assassin's life as swords hissed harmlessly over his head. One man had overextended himself, Adam noted, and he wasted no time in embedding his other free dagger in the exposed belly.

That left two, with himself still on the ground. Around the fight, birds were still chirping happily as if they didn't have a care in the world. A small family of Kappa wandered up a nearby stream, looking for some form of food with which to satisfy their hunger. The sounds metal clashing and men screaming or grunting did not bother them in the slightest.

The army was visible now. Adam felt a ball of dread curl up in his stomach. He flipped over onto his stomach, gathered his magic about him, and shadow stepped to just above one of the guard's heads. He drove his only remaining dagger through the man's skull, killing him instantly, and reached wildly for his two remaining throwing knives. The movement sent him into a rough tumble, and he landed on his knees painfully; but, he was upright.

Panic-driven, he threw a knife, cleanly missing the woman he now faced. She looked shocked for a moment, recovered, and then smirked knowingly. Rushing forward, she brought her blade up-

To Adam, time seemed to freeze. In his mind, he knew that the knife clutched in his hand was his last hope; he needed it to fly straight and true, or else he would surely die. Taking a best guess at trajectory and wind speed, he threw.

-and fell to the ground in a heap, her blade clattering to the earth; the assassin's last weapon protruded from her forehead, the steel embedded three inches into her skull.

The army rushed through the small copse of tree Adam had occupied less than three minutes prior, shouting incoherently. Their voices communicated only one thing to the assassin: death. He could feel now that both of his knees were broken, so it made sense that now he would surely die. The only thing he could think about, oddly enough, was his sister, and how sad she would be when she learned of his untimely demise.

"I'm sorry, Sylvia!" he screamed to the heavens, turning his face skyward, "I tried! Grenth knows I tried!"

And then they were upon him, screaming profanities and stabbing at his prone form on the ground. His shadow armor fizzled, crackled, and then failed. He felt swords, axes, and fire rain down upon his skin, both puncturing and searing his flesh. Swirling blackness enveloped him, and a howling filled his ears.

MWAHAHAHAHAHAPOORADAMOHWELLITWASHISOWNDAMNFAULTANYWAY

The floral scents of Ran Musu Gardens had never before been so appreciated. After narrowly escaping a mansion that smelt of death and decay, any new scent seemed heavenly. The cherry blossoms grinned at the weary troupe stumbling amongst them, letting their fragrance drift lazily through the air. A cloud of gloom hovered over Sylvia, Janet, and the rest of their party. They had killed Minister Cho, a prominent figure in the Celestial Ministry. At least, they had killed what was left of him. That's what Sylvia kept trying to tell herself as she felt the bile rising in her throat, threatening to make the contents of her last meal known to the world.

She could still see his warped, quadrupedal form towering over them, still hear the horrible sounds that emitted from what used to be his vocal chords, still smell the rotting corpses that led to his chambers. She remembered feeling that rush of power that came when she and Janet had joined energies, and how utterly unstoppable she had felt as the sphere of raw, untamed magic had ripped the Minister's body into hundreds of pieces. All of it done because she wanted it to be so, and because she _could_.

Without warning, visions of the men and women that she had killed that day swam before her vision. Whether it had been by suffocating them in a block if ice, burning them to ashes, or using frozen projectiles to skewer them like insects on display, each death left a sour taste in her mouth. How was it fair that these people had become diseased and she hadn't? How was it fair to them that no one had even _thought_ to look for a cure, and instead they were all exterminated like animals? At the time, it had seemed the right thing to do – the _only_ thing to do – to ensure their continued survival. Now, though, she wasn't so sure. She didn't know she was crying until strong arms wrapped around her shaking shoulders, holding her tightly as a soothing voice whispered consoling words in her ear. Without opening her eyes, Sylvia knew it was Janet; she didn't know how she knew, she just _did_.

Her vision was blurred by tears as she, sniffling, pulled out of her friend's embrace and met her ocean-blue eyes. Words seemed to fly unspoken across their shared gaze, a connection so intense that Sylvia was forced to look down at Janet's hands clasping her own before any intelligible sounds would come to her lips.

"I'm sorry," she breathed, hiccuping slightly, "it's just... We're both only eighteen. This is... this is just too much. Too much killing, too much stress, just too much of everything. I don't know if I can handle much more."

"That's a shame," Togo cut in, earning a glare from both girls for interrupting and eavesdropping all at once, "because this is not over. There's going to be more killing, more death, more sorrow. We must combat this plague, whatever it is, trace it to its source. Eventually, we must destroy that source. We must-"

"_We_," Janet said, emphasising the word and stepping lightly away from Sylvia, "must do nothing. _You_, on the other hand, have a rather large problem on your hands, don't you Master Togo? A Minister – and what's more, a highly venerated Minister – has been slain on _your_ island, in _your_ precious Monastery, and on _your_ orders. _You_ need to somehow attach a meaning to his death, if only to make it seem that a man of such high standing did not die for no reason other than that _you_ thought him gone and beyond help. _You_ need to find the source of this plague as a trophy proving that _you. _Were. _Right_. Isn't that correct, Master Togo?"

By now, Janet was advancing on Togo. Despite the fact that he was nearly a foot taller than her, she cowered over him with her five-foot, four figure. Ambient magic swirled around her in a whirlwind, whipping petals off of blossoms and picking up dust. Cracks formed in the ground, spreading like a web being woven by a spider on speed. Stones quivered in the dirt before lifting up, seemingly of their own accord.

"_You_ need to cover your sorry ass for everything that's gone on today. _You_, for some reason, seem to think that you can accomplish this by marching on toward your goal, and _heaven forbid _we even consider how this might affect _others_!"

Small arcs of lightning were traveling between each of the stones now, causing them to glow a faint orange where the electrical charges struck.

"Janet-" Togo started, his tone sounding like an attempt to regain authority that failed completely. The redhead cut him off.

"_You_ are nothing but a sorry, self-serving, arrogant, _ASS_!" she screamed in his face, rage coloring her normally placid features. Raw magical power joined the lightning, melting the rocks into slag. The resulting tornado of lava whirled around and around, encapsulating student and teacher. At some point, Janet's staff had appeared in her hands. Her eyes blazed with an unnatural energy, an incantation flowing from her lips.

Sylvia's eyes were torn from this spectacle when she was wrenched harshly to her feet, a knife pressed to her throat. The metal was cool against her skin, a cold that she knew could envelop her in seconds if permitted the chance. A spike of panic shot through her gut.

"Enough of this foolishness!" Yijo's voice rang across the clearing. "Janet, regain control of yourself this _instant_; if you harm Togo, then I shall be forced to order Kyalo to kill your friend."

The shorter girl's eyes had gone wide with shock, whatever spell she had been about to use frozen in her throat, and for a moment the twister bulged outward as if it was going to explode. Untamed magic sent streamers of light radiating outward, setting flame to any object the touched. A number of trees instantly burst into flame. The whirlwind, however, seemed to deflate from this release, and slowly, inexorably, wound itself down. Where it had been sat a similarly deflated-looking Janet and a stricken Togo. Kyalo tightened his grip on Sylvia slightly, and she felt lances of pain shoot through her arm where he held it. A sudden warmth on her throat told her that the assassin had pressed his dagger more firmly to her neck, drawing a small amount of blood. Her gaze flicked upward, taking in the stocky man's face.

"Let. Me. Go." she whispered threateningly. Kyalo ignored her, looking to Yijo for assurance. Sylvia glanced at the ritualist student, a hard expression settling on her features.

"If you don't tell him to let me go, I'll make him do it myself, _Yijo_." She let a shred of warning slip into her tone, letting both men know she was serious. Her temper was bubbling just under the surface, and she knew that it wouldn't take much to drop the proverbial straw. She moved her hands so that she was gripping the assassin's arm and let a tendril of power flow flow through them, preparing a spell to encase the man holding her in a block of ice. Water condensed, then froze, into crystals that encased her finger.

"Sylvia, stop; it's not worth it."

The voice was small, timid, one they hadn't heard in what seemed like an eternity. All eyes turned, as one, to look at Lynia perched on a small rock she had found. Her blonde hair was cascading down around her eyes, making her expression unreadable, but her voice clearly conveyed her discomfort with the situation as a whole. Her hands were on her knees, balled into tiny fists as she clutched her monk's robes in a vise-like grip. She was shaking slightly, though whether from rage or fear Sylvia couldn't tell.

"Can't you all just get along? I mean, honestly. You're bickering like a bunch of children, infighting over the most ridiculous things imaginable! And all the while we're facing an plague the likes of which we've never seen and which we have no idea how to combat. Actually, that's a lie: we know the only thing to do for those infected is, at this point, to kill them and pray that maybe, just _maybe_, we can find a cure so the killing can stop. What's more, if we're where I think we are, then Aerie is just around the bend. The Tengu are sitting up there, on their hill, completely unaware that a swarm of infected creatures is about to descend upon them like locusts, a tragedy that they could easily blame us for. Not to mention that you, Master Togo, have an obligation to warn the rest of the island about this plague and its possible implications. Can't you all see that there are more important things at stake here than your egos! Get over yourselves and let's do what needs to be done!"

At some point during her tirade, the young monk had risen to her feet. Tears poured down her face in what Sylvia could only assume was either frustration or fear, or possibly even a combination of the two. Her eyes were still obscured by her hair, so it was impossible to tell whether they were even open.

Silence followed her words. No one moved an inch. Togo stayed, seemingly stunned, on the ground beside a similarly incapacitated Janet. Sylvia and Kyalo remained locked in a deadly embrace, a gentle trickle of Sylvia's blood flowing down her neck. Yijo watched everything with an impatient eye, looking as if he would rather be anywhere else other than right here, right now.

"Please," Lynia finally whispered into the quiet, sniffling slightly, "can we just... just get along and do what's right?"

Togo was the first to recover.

"She's right. Kyalo, release Sylvia this instant. Sylvia, contain yourself. Yijo, what in the name of the Five Gods did you think you were doing, threatening fellow student and ordering them about in that fashion?"

OHMYGODTHISISTAKINGFOREVERTOWRITE

Sylvia sighed in frustration. So far, no one was being reasonable. It didn't make sense to spread their forces so thinly, especially when there were only six of them. Their motley gang was holding a war council, if that's what one would call it, outside the entrance to the tunnel that lead back to the Estate. In order to slow the progress of the infected guards through the passage, Togo had Janet and Sylvia set up multiple wards while supplying a small army of bound spirits to fight back at the guards. They all knew that soon the Gardens would be overrun, but for now they were safe.

That being beside the point, it didn't make sense to split them up into four small groups. As things stood, Togo wanted Janet and Sylvia to head to the northeast of the island and scout things out, especially around Seitung Harbor; Lynia and Kyalo had orders to head over to Aerie and warn the Tengu of the impending attack, as well aid them in defending their village; Yijo was to head over to Zen Daijun and commune with the spirit of the Kirin for aid. Togo wanted to personally go and warn the other Headmasters of the danger facing the island, and in the process, it seemed, gain points with the public for bringing such a devastating affliction to light.

"That's just plain stupid," Sylvia stated as calmly as she could, "splitting our forces like that means that if any of us get into trouble, then we are, quite simply, fucked, screwed over, shit-outta-luck, however you want to say it. It makes more sense to continue moving _en masse_ and overwhelm any enemy forces with a higher concentration of power."

"As wonderful as that idea is, Ms. Aracantus," Togo replied evenly, "it would take too long. We don't have a fraction of them time necessary to accomplish everything we must. The plague overwhelmed Minister Cho's Estate in a day or two. How long do you think it will take it to spread all across the island? Given the number of carriers, I think we have significantly less time than the Estate did. In fact, by my estimates, we have less than fifteen hours to find the source of this affliction before it becomes practically impossible to beat this thing back. We split up the way I outlined, and that is that. Now then, Yijo, you'll need to-"

His words were cut off by a resounding _BANG!_ and a flash of blue light above their heads. The resulting shock wave ripped leaves and limbs from the surrounding trees, stripping them bare. Black mist poured from where the flash of light had been, and a roughly humanoid object fell to the ground in a graceless heap.

"Gods above..." Togo murmured.

Kyalo was there first, shadow stepping to the object. As he examined it, he called out, "Lynia! Get over here! It's a person, and they're hurt rather badly."

He rolled the figure beneath him onto its back, and a strange expression flitted across his features before vanishing behind his usually impassive mask..

"Sylvia," he called, an odd tone to his voice, "You may want to come over here as well... It's your brother."

HAHAENDENDENDYESYESYESITISDOOOONE

Word Count: 4382

Oh... My... God... It actually hurt to write that chapter... Not really so much the writing bit of it, but more the fact that I haven't updated since... erm... about december of last year? Ish? Or was it January? GOD I've been in a slump T.T... 0.o Anywho, HAHA! Adam returns! Now the REAL fun begins :-)

As always, reviews are welcomed. If you feel the desire to flame, please try to make it constructive. Comments such as a simple "this sucks!" will be ignored posthaste.


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